The embattled TV research company Nielsen Media Research got some good news today as it came to an agreement with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS) to improve its system for measuring viewership.
After the decision to no longer use handwritten viewer notes, and replacing them with local people meters, Nielsen has fought with News Corp. and civil rights activists who asserted that the people meters weren't accurately counting minority viewers.
As part of the agreement, Nielsen agreed to invest around $50 million to increase the response rates from minorities and younger viewers.
News Corp. executive vice president of corporate affairs, Gary Ginsberg said:
"Nielsen's willingness to take concrete and ongoing steps to ensure that its measurement systems accurately count all viewers was critical to achieving this deal."
With millions of dollars at stake, and a slowing TV ad spend market, Network and Cable owners have been putting increasing pressure on Nielsen to provide even better statistics.
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