African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans represent a significant percentage of the television audience. Advertisers and television programmers (including broadcast and cable networks, national syndicators, local television stations and cable systems) need to know as much as possible about the viewing habits and preferences of African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans in order to make intelligent programming and advertising decisions.

Nielsen Media Research is an important part in this decision-making process, because its estimates on television viewing behavior -- called the Nielsen Ratings -- are the currency upon which programming decisions are made and advertising dollars are spent. Nielsen Media Research’s estimates are based on its famous samples.

These are households, selected at random, in which people tell us about their television viewing behavior. African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans are an important part of these samples, and through their participation in audience research, the television industry can learn more about their viewing habits.

The following questions and answers are designed to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about Nielsen Media Research and how we collect and report information about the television viewing behavior of ethnic groups in the United States:

How are the Nielsen Media Research ratings used?

Nielsen Media Research’s role is to measure both what is transmitted and what is received. By doing this, we provide the programmers and advertisers with vital feedback on their audience.

Nielsen Media Research ratings are used as currency in the marketplace of advertiser-supported TV. When advertisers want a commercial to reach an audience, they need to place it in TV programs which deliver an audience. The more audience a program delivers, the more the commercial time is worth to advertisers. So the amount charged for advertising is usually a negotiated rate per thousand viewers multiplied by the Nielsen Media Research audience estimate (in thousands).

Programs are expensive to produce, whether they attract large audiences or not. In the long run, TV programmers can’t pay more for a program than they can earn from selling advertising in it.

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