It’s not easy being a television station executive these days.
But it’s not the usual problems, such as dealing with some prima donnas in the newsroom, that are bothering them.
Instead, it’s flighty ratings data.
Thanks to Nielsen Media Research’s new way of measuring audiences, using what are called local people meters, stations feel as if they’re flying blind.
Since Thursday, when local people meters were introduced, some stations are doing better than under the old system, and some are doing much worse. Sometimes they can do better one day and worse the next for no apparent reason. Stations are being measured both ways through the end of September.
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Take WBBM-Ch. 2 on Monday night. Under the old overnight ratings system, the station would have scored an 8.4 rating and a 13 share. Under the new system, the station garnered a disappointing 6.6 rating and an 11 share. But Thursday, the station’s ratings were virtually the same under both systems.
Each ratings point represents 33,995 households.
Conversely, Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Ch. 9 on Monday could gloat about its 7 rating and 12 share for its 9 p.m. newscast. But under the old system, it would have had only a 5.1 rating and a 7 share. It also did much better Thursday under the local people meters.
That means nothing but headaches for Chicago stations, which have millions of ad dollars at stake.
Worse for advertisers is determining what numbers to believe right now.
What station executives want to know is whether the day-to-day fluctuation will be the norm. Most stations, mainly those losing under the new system, are counting on audience “settling.”
Others just want to see some usable data to make decisions.
“We’re still getting used to the new methodology,” said Frank Whittaker, vice president of news at WMAQ-Ch. 5. “We’ll wait to see if there are long-term differences between the two.”
That may not be as easy as it seems. TV station chiefs like trends. It makes it easier to gauge when to run certain types of features.
For years, stations in Chicago have had access to overnight ratings. The sample was smaller and didn’t give any kind of demographic data except during the four “measuring” periods in November, February, May and July.
Those periods would often induce “sweeps” pieces–the goofy, sometimes sensational stories that are relentlessly promoted during the month.
Under local people meters, the sample is larger, and viewers actually have to let the set box know who’s in the room watching, providing overnight demographic data that’s key to determining ad rates.
And if executives thought the new system would eliminate some of the excessive “special reporting” that goes on during sweeps months, well, they were probably wrong.
“Our world has changed,” said Whittaker. “We’re now promoting special reports on a 52-week strategy.”
Other stations, like Channel 2, complain that the discrepancies need to be taken care of before the system is reliable enough to move forward.
Nielsen, under fire from minority groups who fear being underrepresented, has said it is dealing with the sample problems. Some settling has happened in markets like Los Angeles and New York that have had local people meters longer than Chicago.
But there’s no turning back. Advertisers see the future and it’s in local people meters, whether or not stations feel they’re fair.
“It’s a truer measurement,” said Kevin Gallagher, senior vice president of media giant Starcom MediaVest Group, which buys hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising for companies. “It’s much better than what we had before.”
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