I was reading an interesting article from WebmetricsGuru about how Podcasting News misinterpretated the results of a recent Nielsen//NetRatings study, when my attention was caught by a Google ad for the site “Change the sample“. Being the head of sample at a research agency, this is typically the kind of catch phrase that speaks to me…
The site is a very well argumented petition for Nielsen to change their methods of sampling Hispanic-Latino populations. The petition is led by Robert Rose, CEO of AIM Tell-A-Vision Group. He claims that “Spanish TV viewing is overrepresented and English TV viewing is underrepresented, thus giving marketers, networks, Wall Street and other entities the false impression that U.S. Latinos “prefer†Spanish TV.” Since he is the CEO of an English-speaking TV network, he is obviously biased, but his arguments seem to make sense. His main argument is that “nativity (U.S. born or Foreign born) is the single biggest criteria when determining media consumption habits (Spanish or English) for U.S. Latinos”, and that Nielsen is not matching the U.S. census data for U.S. born and Foreign born. Consequently, he is convinced that US-born hispanics are under-represented in the panel. Because of its strategic importance for the TV industry (and consequently for all the TV viewers that we are), Nielsen’s sampling methods are under scrutiny, especially when Spanich-speaking Hispanic network is in the final stages of being acquired. If a reader has more insights about this controversy, I would be interested to hear other opinions.
Note: Nielsen explains their panel recruitment strategy on their website. They use two different methods: geographic selection (area probability sampling) in the national sample and larger markets, and randomly-generated telephone numbers (Total Telephone Frame) in smaller markets.
Tags: metrics Nielsen tv ratings sample sampling univision hispanic insights 2.0 insights2.0 market research audience measurement tv ratings
0 Responses to “Change the sample!”