The newest method of audience measurement

The powerful tuning ratings , responsible for what survives or is eliminated from the TV billboards, have ceased to be measured by the traditional system of written questionnaire and telephone call, which was filled out daily by the families chosen by the polling firm.

Since April, the multinational SCA Nielsen, one of the companies with the largest number of subscribers worldwide, implemented in several Latin American countries, including Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil, the People Meter, a novel measurement system that has already been tested in the USA, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Australia and 13 other countries.

The People Meter is an electronic device that automatically records the ignition and change of channel, in addition to having a remote control for audience composition, which indicates that it not only identifies each of the members of the family, but those who are as visitors. In addition, it obeys the orders of those who manipulate the television, without any being conscious.

Unlike other systems, the Meter has the advantage of not being intrusive, that is, for its installation it does not require an internal connection, because it is located on the back of the box of the device.

The collection of information by the polling firm also has no human intervention, as it did previously, since it is a computer that makes the calls daily (at dawn) and takes the information without activating the telephone ring or the answering machines.

Outside of nielsen, in Latin America there are also other polling firms that have implemented electronic measurement systems similar to the People Meter, but unlike this one, they are intrusive, which means that to be connected it is necessary to uncover the TV box. However, these pollsters have a sample and a lower number of subscribers than Nielsen.

Within the different classes of People Meter that Nielsen manages, and taking into account some of the characteristics with which the television behavior of each particular country is evaluated, in Latin American nations, it was decided to install the NST Eurometer, which in addition to recording the number of times the television is turned on and the channel is changed, It has a memory with the capacity to store two months of information and a battery that keeps it for a space of five years.

Approximately Nielsen works with an average of 600 to 10,000 families, depending on the geographic extent and population of each country. For example, in Colombia there are a total of 660 families that collaborate with Nielsen, located throughout the country and evaluated through a socio-economic stratification.

Seeking to carry out greater control, the NST Eurometer was installed in 660 homes, to permanently guarantee a minimum of 600. The sample also allows to collect additional information, such as the composition of the household, the number of receivers or the penetration that each channel has within the population.

For Nielsen, a company that annually moves more than 2 billion dollars for the number of users it has in the world, the advantages of this new method compared to the telephone questionnaire is the reduction of sample bias due to difficulties in hiring or communicating with households and the total reliability of the data provided to customers for the fact that there is no human intervention in the process of collecting information.

Ludwing Haderer, Nielsen's media manager in Colombia, says that despite the great controversy generated by tuning raiting , his company can guarantee the absolute reliability of its measurements, both in the old and current methods, not only because of the high number of households consulted (an average of 2000 from different socioeconomic strata), but by a system of strict control and permanent surveillance of the 600 families that work with this firm in each nation.