Nielsen at a Tipping Point? Accelerating Change Confronts Methodical Researchers

Nielsen’s TV measurement first faced a major crisis of confidence more than 20 years ago, amid growing skepticism from networks and surprising ratings fluctuations. “When those numbers became unreliable, inconsistent, inaccurate, unexplainable,” a TV researcher said in 1992, “they just threw into chaos almost everything we did, because they were the basis on which the business was built.”

There were other challenges before and since, including the controversial introduction of “people meters” in 1987 and audience fragmentation stemming from the cable boom and the arrival of the VCR. Challengers arose, like AGB, a company that pioneered people meters in the U.S, as well as broadcasters themselves, which invested in an alternative form of measurement in the mid-90s.

Remarkably, the company survived all of those tribulations and remains the primary measure by which TV advertising is bought and sold. But this status, which it has held since the 1950s, is once again in jeopardy, and this time its reigning dominance isn’t a sure thing. For the methodical research company, the accelerating pace of change in media may finally be getting out of hand.http://www.asi.eu.com/2014/12/09/nielsen-at-a-tipping-point-accelerating-change-confronts-methodical-researchers/