By Frank MacekNielsen started utilizing its controversial Local People Meters (LPMs) in several new markets today including Cleveland.
What this means to us is a new way of measuring viewers of our local television programs in a way that Nielsen says will offer a truer representation of actual viewing audiences. Not all stations are convinced though this will be better.
In the past, Nielsen recruited viewers by phone & mail to fill out a paper diary for a one week period during sweeps - a four week period during the main months of February, May, July and November. This amounted to about 1400 diaries during the survey month or about 400 households being included in the sample size.
With LPMs, viewers tell an electronic meter that they are watching while the meter tracks their viewing habits. The sample size becomes 600 LPMs in a market. Nielsen now goes door to door to recruit participants. And they hope the sample will include a better portion of those who are younger, busier and in the minority.
A device is hooked up to each tv in a participants home and every household member is asked to activate the machine when they begin and end watching any program. These results are tallied based on live viewing, live viewing + 3 days of DVR viewing and live viewing + 7 days of DVR viewing.
What does this mean for Cleveland TV stations? First, it will mean a 12 - one month survey periods. Every month becomes a new sweeps time...putting TV stations in continuous, competitive situations. Will this mean you will seen the hype stories all the time? Not likely. But it will mean stations have to become smarter and wiser as to the news content they offer year round.
The Cleveland market is still rated as market #17 with 1,552,900 total households including 1,533,710 households that have TVs. Cuyahoga County will continue to make up nearly 35% of the total designated market area (DMA) out of the 17 counties that make up our viewing area. The main or "metro" counties include Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Portage, Summit, Medina, and Lorain. The rest of the area consists of Erie, Huron, Richland, Ashland, Wayne, Holmes, Stark, Tuscarawas and Carroll County.
Because of that large portion of viewers, Nielsen is sub-dividing Cuyahoga County into 5 zones based on census neighborhood blocks. These now include the west side, downtown & lakeshore communities, the central area, near east side and far east side.
As we begin this new journey - the first of several that will turn our local TV industry upside down - we'll share with you more about Local People Meters and how these numbers differ from Nielsen's diary surveys of the past.
Courtesy: Special thanks to Diana Pollock, WKYC Research Director, for contributing to this story
Disclaimer: The comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of WKYC or Gannett Broadcasting. Please post your comments below or email me: fmacek@wkyc.com
