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First, Get Research Done Right
Nielsen just announced an indefinite postponement of its commercial minute ratings product. This reflects what Nielsen’s customers have clearly said: They have no appetite for a largely unusable product.
The first imperative: Get the data right before we go an inch further as a collective TV-advertising industry.
This level-headed approach stands in contrast to the minority position that shouted several points at mid-year including: The issuance of the proposed commercial ratings data file was a lock for 2006, that this data was what the advertisers were clamoring for and finally not only was the train leaving the station, but if certain sectors of TV had quarrels with the data – it was their loss and the minority’s gain – better just hang on and prepare to take your lumps.
Today, the TV industry does not hold the minority view. This is a product of Nielsen listening to the entirety of its customer base and treating this initiative as a research issue. It’s worlds apart from rushing a product into the giddy hands of a small group of their customers looking to gain some perceived advantage by shining a dim light on flawed data.
The exploration of commercial ratings may be finally settling into what it should have been all along – a comprehensive dialogue on a research issue, not a product marketing initiative that was pushing for “warts and all” research. The lesson has been simple: Get the research done right first and market it second.
What I’ve been heartened by is the decision of the majority of cable networks to “opt-out” of the then-proposed December data file — a file that was certain to produce unusable cable data.
Unusable for a variety of reasons, including its inability to differentiate between a national and local ad or the difficulty the system has distinguishing regional feeds for sports. Yet most disturbing is the current lack of redundancies in Monitor Plus’ technology, leaving it vulnerable to potential missed data.
Many have asked, “Why is cable against commercial ratings?” or “Why is cable fighting commercial ratings?”
My answer is swift and sincere: Cable networks’ interest in commercial ratings is as high as anyone’s in the national TV equation – be it seller, buyer or advertiser. We will always do what is in our advertisers’ best interests, and opting into a bad-data file for cable serves no one’s best interests.
Cable’s research pros are leading the TV industry’s effort to get commercial ratings data right. A number of sit-downs with Nielsen to identify and correct cable data-gathering issues has us believing the ‘fixes” are months away, a 2007 reality. Then we’ll have something to opt into.
The last item that struck me was the elephant in the room on the commercial ratings topic in general. Namely, the nearly completely overlooked discussion of whether this product, even after it’s fixed, gets our advertising clients any closer to understanding the central question, “Who’s really watching my ads?” Will commercial ratings get us any closer than the current average-quarter-hour data that we’ve all been neck-deep in for so long?
If that question is new to you, or you rightly suspect the answer isn’t, “Well, obviously, yes, commercial minute data must get us all closer to understanding who’s really watching my ads,” then I suggest you run, don’t walk to your nearest TV research guru and ask. The answer may surprise you.
I am thrilled the editorial staff at Multichannel News has invited me to be a regular contributor to their community of ‘Voices.’’ My hope for this forum to stir meaningful discourse about television and advertising.
Until next time…
DAVID COHEN commented:
I'm not taking sides here, for obvious reasons, but one thing I will say is that it seems like Nielsen has what almost amounts to a thankless task: There's no way everyone involved will be satisfied.
