• What techniques do you use to collect viewing information?

• How do you know if someone in the metered sample is watching the TV, a video game, a VCR, or using a computer in conjunction with the TV?

• How do you know if people are reporting what they really watch?

• What is a metered market?

• How can I get more information about the products that Nielsen Media Research offers?

Nielsen Media Research uses People Meters, set-tuning meters, paper diaries, and telephone interviews (called telephone coincidentals).

The People Meter is an electronic metering system placed in randomly selected households – 5,000 households for nationwide audience measurement. The meter measures three things – the tuning station of the TV set (on, off, time), what channel/station is being tuned, and who is watching. The People Meter is used to produce household and persons audience estimates for broadcast and cable networks and nationally distributed barter-syndicated programs.

Who is watching television is measured by the "People" part of the meter. A fixed box is placed on or near the television, and each member of the household is assigned a personal viewing button (often, a remote clicker is also personalized). These personal buttons, allow Nielsen Media Research to determine "who" is watching which program.

In 49 of the nation’s largest markets, an electronic metering system is used by Nielsen Media Research to provide set-tuning information on a daily basis. The TV-set-tuning information is collected from a sample of homes in these 49 markets (separate than the People Meter), and overnight household tuning ratings are reported on a daily basis for these local areas. This meter is placed onto the back of each television set in the home and monitors the tuning status of each TV set in the household.

Diary measurement is used to collect viewing information from sample homes in every television market in the United States. Each year we process approximately 1.6 million paper diaries from households across the country for the "sweeps" ratings periods. The standard report months – the "sweep" months – include November, February, May and July of each year.

The paper-viewing diaries are mailed out to randomly selected households in all 210 local markets in the U.S. Each household’s member in the diary sample is asked to write down what programs and channels they watch over the course of that one week.

When Nielsen Media Research meters someone’s home, all viewing devices linked through the TV set are metered and monitored by Nielsen Media Research.

This is really a three-part question:

The meters electronically tell us what channel is being tuned.

Program identification is taken from a combination of electronic codes in programs (a lineup detection meter) which provide information on what program is on what channel. This is supplemented and cross-checked with other program listing information.

Who is watching is determined by people entering their presence in the room when the set is turned on, and when they consider themselves to be watching or listening to the TV.

Since Nielsen Media Research measures who is watching with independent samples using People Meters, set-tuning meters, diaries and occasionally telephone coincidentals, we know that the different methods produce consistent audience estimates. Viewing status can also be cross-checked against the tuning status of the set-meter. We also do periodic independent checks using phone coincidentals. And four times a year (sweep months), we relate the sum of our local market measurements to our national measurements. These independent quality control checks also help ensure reliable information.

Metered markets are local markets where Nielsen Media Research use set-tuning meters (not People Meters) to report household ratings. The local metered-market ratings from 49 television markets (expanding to 53 by October 2001) are usually available in the morning. The National People Meter data are available at approximately 3:30PM (ET). For this reason, when reporting network audience estimates, the early ratings are usually called "metered market overnights" or "preliminary" estimates from Nielsen Media Research. When reporting all 49 metered markets (expanding to 53 by October 2001), the ratings are weighted by size of market, with each rating point representing approximately 67,509,570 households. (Nationally, each rating point represents 102,200,000 households).

Please fill out the form found on our Customer Connection Page if you are interested in having a Nielsen Media Research account executive contact you. Make sure to explain if you are interested in purchasing local or national television or Internet data.

Nielsen Media Research is in the business of measuring the audience for broadcast and cable television. In addition, we offer services to measure website activity and we produce a number of reports on media and home technologies. We have a wide range of syndicated research reports available to customers about each of these areas of media. Custom research is provided to clients and we assist emerging technologies with feasibility studies, as well as other custom work. The majority of these services and our syndicated research is only available to clients.

The marketing staff is organized to understand and serve the specific needs of clients. For example, there is a separate staff, with a wide range of products to serve cable networks. The broadcast networks, with some very different research tools and reports available, are served by another group. Local broadcast and cable customers are serviced by different staffs as well. Program syndicators, advertisers, agencies, satellite distributors, Internet services, program producers -- all have different research needs, which we strive to meet with different staffs and services to understand each segment of the industry.