Nielsen to Implement Recommendations of Independent Task Force on Television Measurement

Nielsen to Implement Recommendations of Independent Task Force on Television Measurement

Task Force report says "amount and quality of TV ratings data generated daily by Nielsen ... has been vital to the success of the U.S. television industry."

NEW YORK, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Nielsen Media Research today made public the report of The Independent Task Force on Television Measurement. Nielsen's president and chief executive officer, Susan D. Whiting, congratulated the Task Force members for their outstanding work, and said the television ratings service will begin immediately to implement many of the report's recommendations.

The 19-member Task Force, chaired by former Congresswoman Cardiss Collins of Illinois, has been working for more than eight months, collecting information from Nielsen clients and community leaders, in order to make recommendations to Nielsen about how the ratings service can more accurately measure diverse television audiences.

The Task Force was announced in April 2004, on a recommendation by Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), as an independent body charged with addressing community concerns that Nielsen's Local People Meter (LPM) services may not have been fully counting people of color. The Task Force received the full support and cooperation of Nielsen.

"The Task Force is to be commended for taking on this responsibility," said Congressman Rangel. "Mrs. Collins and all the other members of the Task Force are to be commended for their hard work and dedication. After talking with Susan Whiting, who is the president of Nielsen, I am confident that Nielsen is now moving in the right direction."

The Task Force reported that, "[I]n our conversations with senior management, Nielsen conveyed the importance of accurately measuring a constantly changing American population, using evolving technology. While we have made a number of specific suggestions about how Nielsen can and should improve its measurement of our changing population, we also need to point out that the amount and quality of TV ratings data generated daily by Nielsen for hundreds of local stations and networks has been vital to the success of the U.S. television industry."

The areas where the Task Force recommended improvement were the composition of the LPM samples, training for the field force, fault rates, diversity levels at Nielsen, and communications with the communities affected by ratings.

The Task Force's full report is available on http://www.everyonecounts.tv/.

Susan Whiting accepted the report today on behalf of Nielsen from Mrs. Collins. "We are impressed with the constructive work undertaken by Mrs. Collins and the other members of the Task Force," said Whiting. "They have devoted an enormous amount of time and energy to this important task.

"The Task Force's first priority," continued Whiting, "was to understand the science of television audience measurement - including sampling, data collection, data processing and data reporting - and then to make practical recommendations about how to improve the service and help Nielsen do a better job of measuring America's highly diverse and changing population. We are committed to working with our clients to implement these recommendations."

"I am pleased to present to you the report of the Independent Task Force on Television Measurement," said Mrs. Collins. "I am quite proud of the hard work that the Task Force members have devoted to this project, and I believe the report will be extremely helpful in your efforts to ensure accurate measurement of persons of color.

"Nielsen and its staff are to be commended for its openness and support throughout this process," continued Mrs. Collins. "Responsiveness to our requests for information and respect of our independence was of utmost importance in carrying out our review of the Company's measurement practices."

Said Whiting: "Many of the recommendations by the Task Force will require support from our clients and agreement from the Media Rating Council which accredits audience measurement services such as Nielsen. We will work with our clients to obtain their support for these recommendations. We have an aggressive timetable for implementing these recommendations, and we need to move forward."

"Larger Issues" of Under-representation in TV Industry

While the Task Force focused its attention on Nielsen's television research, the report also expressed concern about the lack of inclusiveness among persons of color within the greater television industry. Mrs. Collins' statement summarized the Task Force opinion that "... there is concern that the LPM controversy may distract attention from the larger issue of under- representation among persons of color in the television industry. It would be unfortunate if the industry's longstanding failure to adequately represent persons of color on television or in positions of authority were ignored because of the more highly publicized concerns over LPMs."

About Nielsen Media Research

Nielsen Media Research is the leading provider of television audience measurement and related services, worldwide. Nielsen Media Research is part of the VNU Media Measurement & Information Group, a global leader in information services for the media and entertainment industries.

VNU is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information. VNU is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. The company employs 38,000 people. Total revenues amounted to EUR 3.8 billion in 2004. VNU is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

For more information, please visit the VNU website at http://www.vnu.com/

SUMMARY OF TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS AND NIELSEN ACTIONS

1. LPM Sample -- LPM Technology - The Task Force concluded that LPM technology can more accurately measure the diverse viewing audience than, for example, paper diaries. The demographic complexity of the nation's urbanized TV markets, however, makes this task very difficult. To meet this challenge, Nielsen will consider the Task Force's recommendations, as discussed below, in consultation with its clients. Additionally, Nielsen has already taken the following initiatives:

- Initiated an approach to sample recruitment through a program unique to Nielsen called "Membership." This involves specialized hiring and training of our recruitment employees, and proprietary techniques aimed at encouraging people to participate in Nielsen's People Meter samples. - Special incentives (financial) aimed at difficult-to-recruit sample households and persons in those households. - New recruitment video to better help sample households understand more about who we are, what we do and what is required of them. - Modified our pre-recruitment materials and contact information to learn more about the potential sample home before we attempt to recruit. - Began testing personal coaching aimed at specific persons in the home who are non-cooperators. - Nielsen has set up a program of performance based incentives aimed at rewarding respondents for good performance with the People Meter. The company is about to implement that program which has been under development.

-- LPM Sampling - US Census data is an important starting point for the development of samples, but the Task Force recommends that additional methods and data sources should be considered to compensate for the potential of Census undercounts. In an effort to address such concerns, Nielsen has utilized the following procedures yielding more accurate Hispanic Universe estimates:

- While the decennial (10-year) Census is a starting point, the Census Bureau updates and publishes new figures every June. Nielsen incorporates these updates into its database every year. - Nielsen also uses data provided by Claritas, a geo-demography firm, to help establish "universe estimates" which are updated every year. - To verify these data, before a sample household is selected, Nielsen sends its own field representatives into local market neighborhoods to verify existing building counts. - Most importantly, Nielsen has pioneered the development of language use estimates in this country. It has conducted the most extensive research program on language use in the country. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has recommended the use of Nielsen's language use data to balance other media research databases such as Arbitron's radio ratings.

Beyond this, and in order to focus on the concerns expressed by the Task Force, Nielsen will be convening an advisory counsel of academic, industry and government scholars for the purpose of determining if additional data resources could improve the accuracy of current Hispanic estimates.

In addition, on September 8, 2004 Nielsen and the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI) announced the formation of a major research alliance designed to significantly enhance Nielsen's ability to more successfully measure television viewing habits among Latinos in the United States. The agreement, the first of its kind in Nielsen's 54-year history of television ratings, establishes a hands-on research program in which an academic team of nationally recognized Latino social scientists will evaluate and make recommendations regarding all aspects of Nielsen's television audience measurement services. This work has begun.

-- Oversampling - The Task Force recommends that Nielsen oversample persons of color in all LPM markets. We believe that oversampling represents a very positive opportunity to improve the accuracy of the ratings among households of color. As such, we have been working on developing a proposal regarding the best method for oversampling. We expect to recommend to the MRC that Nielsen be permitted to oversample households of color and other households for which there is an important business or social reason. Nielsen is hopeful for client support for this initiative.

-- Individual vs. household characteristics - Nielsen supports the Task Force recommendation that, as part of the household classification process, the race and language of each individual person in a sample household should be a factor, instead of relying on the "head of household" or household level characteristics. Nielsen has always collected language use for all members of the household and used this information to classify the usage of the household, as a whole. We recently began to collect race information for every member of the household, also. Nielsen agrees with the Task Force that these race and language characteristics should be monitored and adjusted on an individual basis rather than on a household basis and has begun a research project on how to best implement this change. Nielsen will be making a proposal to the industry and MRC regarding these changes later this year after the research has been completed.

-- "Dynamic Alternate Replacement" - Nielsen agrees with the Task Force that when initially designated (first choice) households choose not to participate, matching the replacement (alternate) household to the first household on race, origin, language spoken, and household size could improve the representation of those variables. Such a process may be very difficult to implement in practice, however, because neighbors don't match on so many variables and Nielsen must consider the additional variables on which we currently match. Nielsen is evaluating ways to implement a procedure based on this premise, will seek input from clients, and expects to make a recommendation to the MRC later this year.

2. Field Operations

-- Multilingual written materials - Many, but not all, of Nielsen's recruitment materials are already translated into a variety of languages. Nielsen believes that the Task Force's recommendation that all its recruitment materials be translated into Spanish and the main Asian languages is an excellent suggestion, and we will implement this immediately. Nielsen also will translate these materials into other languages, as necessary. Often, however, we find that just translation is insufficient to improve recruitment effectiveness, as the message and emotional appeal may vary among cultures. For that reason, we have already established relations with cultural think tanks and will continue these and other partnerships in an effort to go beyond simple translation.

-- Female Field Representatives - Nielsen is sensitive to the role that gender (and race, language and other characteristics) has in the relationship between our Membership/Field personnel and people in sample homes. The percentage of female field representatives has increased significantly over the past five years, and Nielsen will examine new recruiting techniques to further increase and retain the number of female field representatives.

-- Training on Cultural Sensitivity - Over the last three years, Nielsen has introduced Asian and Hispanic cultural sensitivity training programs developed in conjunction with UCLA and our Spanish Language clients. However, the Task Force has made specific recommendations on how to improve those programs, and in response Nielsen just added several new training procedures on cultural sensitivity to its 10-week training course for field and membership representatives. As part of this expanded training program, Nielsen will make all reasonable efforts to ensure that its representatives understand and demonstrate respect for cultures of all the communities.

-- Privacy Concerns - Nielsen has already dedicated significant time and effort into developing materials and procedures that address this issue. We believe that we have one of the best privacy records in the research industry. However, concerns about privacy present some of the most difficult obstacles that Nielsen must overcome in recruiting households. In response to the Task Force's recommendations, we will give greater emphasis on recruitment materials to new immigrants and the elderly and review our privacy- related practice in consideration of possible improvements specifically directed at certain vulnerable ages and demographic categories.

-- New Recruitment Strategies - As recommended by the Task Force, Nielsen will continue to seek out new recruitment strategies for communities of color. Specifically, we have and will continue to establish partnerships with important scholarly organizations who specialize in these techniques.

3. Fault Rates

-- Public Reports on Fault Rates - As suggested by the Task Force, and in the interest of transparency, Nielsen will begin issuing quarterly public reports on its progress in reducing fault rates in LPM markets. Such information will be posted on our web site: http://www.everyonecounts.tv/.

-- Research on the impact of fault rates - Nielsen provided both the Task Force and its clients with preliminary research it conducted on the impact of fault rates. While that research suggested that fault rates were not causing the changes in the ratings that occurred, Nielsen agrees that further research should be done by independent parties on the impact of fault rates on sample representation. Nielsen plans to create a Technical Advisory Council to provide scholarly advice on research issues, and we will ask the committee to review this issue. Additionally, Nielsen will coordinate this work with its local-client Technical Advisory Committee.

-- Rules on multi-TV households - Nielsen is investigating ways in which data can be used from households that presently fault because they do not meet minimum reporting requirements. Such minimum reporting requirements have, in the past, been reviewed as part of the MRC accreditation process. If we develop a better set of rules which can mitigate some of the differences in fault rates, we will develop a proposal and support its introduction. Nielsen is open to further suggestions.

-- Person-level training in high-faulting households - Nielsen endorses the Task Force's recommendation that it participate in one-on-one training of individuals in households that are at high risk for faulting. In fact, earlier this year, Nielsen implemented the first of two personal coaching tests to determine if this would positively affect fault rates. The information gathered from that test has already led us to introduce a second test in an effort to accelerate implementation of this personal coaching technique.

-- On-screen tutorial - Nielsen provides sample households with extensive training materials and maintains an 800 phone number for households with questions related to their meters. We have investigated the possibility of implementing an on-screen tutorial, but so far this has been incompatible with current metering technology. Nielsen will, however, investigate other options. We have, for example, produced a special video that we show to sample households. This video has met with positive reactions from people in our samples.

-- Individual incentives - Nielsen agrees with the Task Force that offering incentives to individuals rather than to the household as a whole may help reduce fault rates. Earlier this year, we began software development to permit us to disperse individual checks during the summer of this year. We have begun to use individual incentives during the initial recruitment process.

-- Phone service - Households without telephones have higher fault rates, because it is difficult for our field representatives to schedule appointments to fix the problem. Nielsen has recently hired new staff positions which will focus specifically on getting phone lines in homes that need them. Beyond this and in response to the Task Force's recommendations, Nielsen will investigate other creative ways to improve communication with these households.

4. Diversity

-- Independent Review Council - Nielsen will create a council (or councils) comprised of persons who represent diverse racial/ethnic communities with expertise in the media industry or research methods who can provide advice on ways to ensure accurate measurement of people of color. Nielsen will carefully review the Task Force's recommendation on this matter and determine the structure and responsibilities of this council or councils. One such working group, as mentioned earlier, is the William C. Velasquez Institute, and Nielsen will make reports from this work available to clients and to the public.

-- Internal Diversity - The Task Force recommends that Nielsen create a new "Office of Domestic Expanding Markets" with three functions: - Creating a culture of diversity within Nielsen Media Research - Implementing the Task Force recommendations - Working with the independent review council (above).

Nielsen wishes to be an organization which is exemplary in its staff recruitment, composition, training and promotion. It is everyone's job at Nielsen to make sure we can attract and retain qualified executives of color, and we will monitor this process to ensure our progress towards this objective.

We will carefully consider if a single function is necessary to oversee all that the Task Force has recommended, including working with a review council or councils. But we are open to the idea.

-- Outreach to community organizations - We are especially pleased that the Task Force recommends the need for expanding and maintaining these contacts. Over the past year, Nielsen has dramatically increased its outreach to and support for community organizations across the country. Over the past year, for example, Nielsen executives have conducted hundreds of meetings with elected officials, community groups and community leaders. Nielsen is committed to maintaining this high level of outreach, and we welcome input from community leaders.

-- Educational outreach - Nielsen can offer a unique service to educators and institutions of learning. We agree with the Task Force's recommendation that such initiatives should be expanded. For the past several years, for example, we have been working with the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and some of its member colleges to provide more information about how the ratings business fits into the television business. We also have initiated a Nielsen U program for client training that we could expand to provide information to colleges.

Nielsen Media Research has participated in Howard University's Media Sales Institute for several years and will once again in 2005. In addition, we have supported the American Advertising Federation (AAF) by presenting at the first annual National Student Advertising Conference in November 2004 and as a supplier of research for the 2005 National Student Advertising Competition. Nielsen has also joined the Broadcast Educators Association and will be participating in the annual conference in April 2005. We are exploring additional ways to provide a greater level of support to both teachers and students.

5. Communications

-- Feedback from field staff - Nielsen recognizes that its membership and field representatives have important insights into how sample households feel about the Company and improvements in recruitment techniques. Since the start of the people meter installation process, we have conducted focus groups in each LPM market as it was being brought up. We believe that the Task Force is right when it advises Nielsen to establish a more formal mechanism that will proactively reach out to its representatives for feedback on these matters. We are currently designing such a program.

-- Public awareness campaign - Nielsen agrees with the Task Force that it needs to be better known by the general public, especially in communities of color. Our own brand awareness research, which was conducted two years ago to address this issue, identifies a strong differential in the awareness of Nielsen by race and ethnicity. To address this disparity in awareness, we launched extensive advertising and promotion campaigns last year under the stewardship of WingLatino. However, these did not prove effective, as we had hoped. We have also recently implemented a promotional program of repeated contacts with a household prior to recruitment. It is still too early to tell if this campaign will be successful, but we are testing the impact on awareness and will report our findings to clients and the public. Most recently, we have launched a brand awareness advertising campaign in LPM markets. This campaign was developed by Burrell Advertising in Chicago, one of the country's most respected advertising agencies, and covers a broad spectrum of media serving communities of color. Television advertising, however, is not included because the research consensus is that such advertising could bias our samples.

-- Communications with clients - In a recent letter to clients, Nielsen acknowledged that it could not remain "business as usual" at the Company. Nielsen is committed to improving its communications with clients at all levels. A recent client communication, for example, outlines many of the initiatives described in this document as well as many new programs. This is just a beginning in this communications program.

-- Flexible pricing for smaller agencies - Nielsen recently promised to review pricing models for all advertising agencies. As part of that review, Nielsen will consider this recommendation.

-- Annual report on viewing habits among persons of color - Nielsen is investigating the possibility of producing a top-line report on viewing habits among persons of color that can offer valuable insights to clients and the general public. It is important to note, however, that a number of such reports are published annually by media buyers and advertising agencies, all based on Nielsen data. Many of these agencies and clients are minority controlled or focused, so we must be conscious of publishing data which currently represents a unique service of current minority clients. Presently, Nielsen spends considerable time working with such media concerns to help them verify the accuracy of the data so their reports can be released in a timely manner. In addition, Nielsen's local market service (NSI) produces "Ethnic Reports" in May, November and February for those markets with significant African-American or Hispanic populations. Nielsen is considering expanding these reports to include markets with significant Asian-American populations.

6. Research & Development -- Independent industry research - Nielsen recognizes the need for the television industry to have a greater say in the direction of research-related R&D. Nielsen has already committed to create a $2.5 million R&D fund for methodological research that would be directed jointly by the Company and its clients. We will explore further the Task Force's recommendations on the creation of a Research Institute funded by private and public entities.

Conclusion - From Nielsen Media Research

Nielsen Media Research appreciates the fine work done by each member of the Independent Task Force. These citizens gave generously of their time and expertise to provide Nielsen Media Research and its clients with a road map to the future. Our task is to work with our clients to implement these recommendations. We also recognize the importance of keeping the public as well as communities of interest fully informed of our progress. We will do that.

This was a Task Force of volunteers, even though the members were modestly compensated for their time by Nielsen and their expenses were reimbursed by Nielsen.

Nielsen is accountable to all of its constituents, both client and public, to implement where possible, and to report on our progress with respect to the Task Force's recommendations. No form of mandatory oversight or regulation could accomplish more than this, and many forms could be far less effective.

Nielsen Media Research sincerely thanks the Chair of the Task Force, former US Representative Cardiss Collins, for her leadership and her diligence. She generously agreed to come out of retirement, to assist us and to provide an outstanding service to the public.

Nielsen thanks the following individual members of the Task Force: Former Congresswoman Cardiss Collins, Chair Suzanna Valdez, Executive Director Mario Baeza Bob Barocci John Crump Reverend James L. Demus III Ray Durazo Mary Gonzalez-Koenig Don Jackson Bradford Kane Byron Lewis Guillermo Linares Manuel E. Machado Scott McDonald Manuel Mirabal Wallace Snyder Melody Spann-Cooper George Takei Elinor Tatum Karen Watson Donald K. Williams

Contact - Nielsen: Jack Loftus 646-654-8360 Contact - Task Force: Suzanna Valdez 646-283-8300

Source: Nielsen Media Research

CONTACT: Jack Loftus of Nielsen, +1-646-654-8360; or Suzanna Valdez of Task Force, +1-646-283-8300

Web site: http://www.everyonecounts.tv/ http://www.vnu.com/

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