We wanted to keep you up to date on the progress of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI), and its research of a study by Rincón and Associates that had been used against Nielsen by the Don’t Count Us Out Coalition. The TRPI has just concluded that the recent study critical of Nielsen did not provide evidence that Nielsen undercounts Latino viewers. The TRPI said it found no evidence that supported the National Latino Media Council's (NLMC) criticism of Nielsen’s methodology.  TRPI also stated:  “In our view, Rincón and Associates’ Latino Television Study does not seem to have offered the kind of precision and rigor that they claim to present.”

TRPI made the following specific criticisms:

·         “Rincón and Associates’ use of a single survey was an ineffective strategy to test the validity of some of the NLMC’s concerns regarding Nielsen’s measurements of Latino viewing patterns.

·         “Rincón’s sample, which was built from a small number of cities, was less likely than Nielsen’s larger sample of media markets to lead to a more representative sample of national Latino viewing patterns.

·         “The number of times Rincón called back unanswered phone numbers was less than normally done in most scholarly surveys.

·         “The design of Rincón’s questionnaire raised issues about how the company initially communicated with respondents.”

The full TRPI report is available at www.nielsenmedia.com.

In announcing these findings, TRPI President Harry Pachon, Ph.D., also said, “media organizations like Nielsen and Rincón need to be mindful of the changing demographics and nuances that are present in our minority communities.”  We are pleased to say that Nielsen has been proactive in addressing issues raised by TRPI.  In particular, we have:

·         Increased the size of our Latino samples in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago to ensure ratings are more representative of Latinos;

·         Improved incentives and recruitment methods to encourage greater participation among people of color; and

·         Hired a diverse team of field representatives who reflect the communities in which they work.

Nielsen has a solid history of working with Latino leaders to ensure their communities are correctly counted.  Since 1992, we have used People Meter technology to measure Latino TV viewing of both English-and Spanish-language media at the national level. Today, we maintain separate Latino samples in 19 local markets with significant Latino populations. 

We will continue to listen and work with all interested parties to make sure we always provide the most accurate and representative measurements of the nation’s diverse TV audiences.

As always, we will continue to keep you informed of key developments in this critical area.