The Media Rating Council (MRC) has granted continued accreditation to Nielsen‘s Local People Meter (LPM) market service.
At the same time, the MRC has given its approval to Set Meter measurement services in 19 of 31 U.S. markets where the Set Meter is in use.
Some 19 Set Meter + PPM markets were granted continued accreditation:
- Austin
- Cincinnati
- Columbus, Ohio
- Greensboro, N.C.
- Hartford
- Indianapolis
- Jacksonville
- Kansas City
- Las Vegas
- Memphis
- Milwaukee
- Nashville
- Norfolk
- Providence
- Raleigh-Durham
- Salt Lake City
- San Antonio
- San Diego
- West Palm Beach-Boca Raton
Nielsen says this marks a “significant achievement” for the nation’s dominant audience measurement company as these services now include Portable People Meter (PPM) measurement, which Nielsen began incorporating in October 2019.
Additionally, Nielsen says that its National People Meter (NPM) service has received continued MRC accreditation.
This accreditation also includes demographic, household and persons-level estimates where Nielsen’s Viewer Assignment methodology is deployed, which is in 19 Set Meter + PPM markets, as well as in its national ratings service, thus signaling the MRC’s formal acceptance of Nielsen’s execution of the VA methodology.
Nielsen says this makes it the lone company to be accredited for both local and national TV ratings services. Further, the inclusion of PPM for TV measurement brings increased size and stability to its panel.
“We congratulate Nielsen on achieving this important milestone in the transformation of its TV measurement,” said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC. “Even more importantly, we look forward to working with Nielsen in its ongoing work to continuously improve the quality of these and other services in its measurement product portfolio, and to provide the transparency into these services that is required by the industry to have the confidence it needs in how well its advertising and programming investments are measured.”
Amilcar Perez, Nielsen’s National Media Clients EVP, added, “The MRC accreditation process is extensive, encompassing all significant aspects of a measurement service’s design and execution. This assignation reaffirms Nielsen’s commitment to providing clients with trusted metrics via our best-in-class data science, technology and methodology that serve as the backbone of our measurement standards and solutions. At the same time, participation in the MRC process demonstrates Nielsen’s fidelity to transparency and recognition of the importance of independent, third-party validation.”
Nielsen in October said it completed a transformation of its local television business by combining advanced meter technology, big data and people-powered panels into its Local TV measurement service.
“The MRC’s accreditation of Local People Meter (LPM) + Portable People Meter (PPM) and Set Meter + PPM measurement services reflects Nielsen’s commitment to transparency and providing the best audience measurement to local markets,” noted Nielsen Local TV EVP and Managing Director Catherine Herkovic. “It represents another major milestone in the transformation of our local television services.”
The Media Rating Council (MRC) establishes industry standards for valid, reliable and effective media audience measurement research. MRC accreditation signals to the marketplace that a product/service meets the MRC minimum standards for the production and delivery of audience ratings.
