Nielsen's Response to U.S. Born Hispanic Sampling Unacceptable

Nielsen's Response to U.S. Born Hispanic Sampling Unacceptable

AIM TV Responds to Nielsen's Statements on 'Change the Sample'

NEW YORK, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- AIM Tell-A-Vision Group (AIM TV), the pioneering company producing television for U.S.-born Latinos last week announced their "Change The Sample" initiative to convince Nielsen Media Research, Inc. to change its current language stratification method of monitoring U.S. Hispanic viewing to a more accurate method based on nativity (location of one's birth, i.e., U.S. Born or Foreign Born).

In response to AIM TV's announcement, Jack Loftus, Nielsen's Senior Vice President of Communications was quoted by MediaWeek (11/10/05), and Marketing y Medios (11/10/05), both publications owned by Nielsen's parent company, VNU, and said, "no credible research that Nielsen was aware of that indicated that nativity was a better predictor of viewing behavior than language spoken in the home". AIM TV contends there are numerous studies that indicate nativity is a key component to television viewing including: 2004 Rincon & Associates, 1998 Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, 2000 Kaiser Foundation and Harvard University Study, 2003 Pew Hispanic Center, 2004 Latino Intelligence Study, 2005 New American Dimensions and more.

Further, AIM TV cites several other studies that indicate one's language spoken is difficult to measure, is subjective and depends on many factors including age, subject matter, nativity, etc. AIM TV cites the Rincon & Associates Study, the Cultural Access Group Study, the Latino Intelligence Youth Study and more. AIM TV contends that "language spoken" has little to do with TV viewing while needlessly complicating and dividing the sample smaller than necessary.

In response to Nielsen's statement that questions regarding nativity was "an outrageous invasion of privacy," Robert G. Rose, CEO of AIM TV responded, "What's outrageous is Nielsen's avoidance to use the most accurate data and their ignorance related to critical research on the topic."

"Nativity is publicly available via U.S. Census data," Rose continued. "Furthermore, Nielsen already asks viewers very personal questions including their age, ethnicity, viewing habits and will even install telephone lines in viewers' homes without a phone in order to entice respondents to participate in their studies."

Loftus accused Rose of acting in his own commercial interest and suggested that Rose and company "produce programming that all Hispanics will watch". Rose contends the statement is another example of Nielsen's ignorance of U.S. Hispanic culture.

"To suggest that Latinos are a monolithic group who, from ages five to ninety-five, would enjoy one type of television programming demonstrates a dangerous ignorance on behalf of Nielsen. Why should all Latinos enjoy just one type of programming when non-Latinos don't?" says Rose. "This may suggest a larger issue at Nielsen."

Support for the "Change The Sample" initiative is growing, with industry leaders and viewers jumping on board. The website www.ChangeTheSample.com provides further details, research and links to supporters and allows people to sign an online petition to demand Nielsen CHANGE THE SAMPLE.

Source: AIM Tell-A-Vision Group

CONTACT: Adam Schoenberg, Director of Marketing & Public Relations of AIM
TV, +1-212-627-3192, ext. 18, or Adam@aimtv.tv

Web site: http://www.aimtv.tv/
http://www.changethesample.com/

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