Nielsen to Generate National Ratings for Both English- and Spanish-Language Television from the Same Panel

Nielsen to Generate National Ratings for Both English- and Spanish-Language Television from the Same Panel

Change Allows the Television and Advertising Industries to Evaluate Performance of all National Networks Side by Side

NEW YORK, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Nielsen Company announced that beginning today it will produce all national Hispanic ratings through its National People Meter (NPM) panel, the same sample that is used to produce ratings for non-Hispanic networks. This will put national Spanish-language television on a level playing field with English-language television, providing a common ratings number for all national networks.

As a consequence of providing ratings from a single national sample for all television networks regardless of language, Nielsen will retire its separate National Hispanic People Meter (NHPM) panel, which has measured Hispanic households since 1992. This completes a transition that started in late 2005, when a number of Spanish language networks began to use ratings data from the NPM sample.

The growth of Hispanic television in recent years has resulted from the growing market power of the Hispanic population as a whole:

-- The number of Hispanic viewers in the U.S. has risen from 22.2 million,
or 9% of the total U.S. population, in 1992-93 to 38.9 million, or 14%
of the total population in 2005-06.

-- Ad spending on Spanish-language network and cable television has grown
from approximately $1.8 billion in 2001 to more than $3.05 billion in
2006, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

-- In the 1992-1993 television season, there were two national Spanish-
language broadcast networks, attracting a combined average primetime
audience of 2.4 million Hispanic viewers. In the 2006-2007 television
season, there were four national Spanish-language broadcast networks
with a combined average primetime audience of 4.1 million Hispanic
viewers.

"By providing the marketplace with a single source of television ratings regardless of language, Nielsen will allow the television industry to evaluate both English and Spanish language television and audiences side-by-side," said Sara Erichson, Executive Vice President, Nielsen Media Research North America. "This step is part of Nielsen's commitment to continuously improve the quality and accuracy of its measurement and to ensure that our measurements reflect the growing diversity of the entire U.S. population."

Nielsen's move to a single national sample comes on the heels of a significant ongoing expansion of its National People Meter sample. Today, the sub-sample of Hispanic households within the NPM panel is both larger and more representative of the U.S. Hispanic population than the 1000-home National Hispanic People Meter panel that is being retired. As a consequence, the NPM has become a more accurate and complete gauge of Hispanic viewing than the separate Hispanic panel.

The change was also made possible by Nielsen's continuing effort to increase the effectiveness of its identification, recruitment and retention of Hispanic households in its sample. Over the past 15 years, Nielsen has implemented a number of quality initiatives to improve the training of its bilingual field staff, the translations of its materials, and its understanding of the diverse Hispanic community. Nielsen remains committed to ongoing improvement in this area and is partnering with the William C. Velasquez Institute to develop a comprehensive Hispanic Cultural Sensitivity curriculum for Nielsen's bilingual field staff.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online intelligence (NetRatings and BuzzMetrics), trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, http://www.nielsen.com/.

Source: The Nielsen Company

CONTACT: Gary Holmes of The Nielsen Company, +1-646-654-8975

Web site:

http://www.nielsen.com/

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