Nielsen Co. Thursday unveiled its timetable to introduce electronic Local People Meters to 38 additional markets by 2011.
The ratings’ service latest move will mean that 56 local markets will have the LPMs by 2011. The additional 38 markets that will be getting the new LPMs are currently measured by a combination of set meters and handwritten diaries.
LPMs are electronic devices that continuously record television viewing behavior in real time all year long. The meters, placed in sample homes, record who is watching what programs, and allows the measurement of various kinds of TV viewing activities, including broadcast and cable television, mobile-video devices, video games, digital video recorders, video on demand and other timeshifting.
When LPMs are introduced into the full 56 local markets, about 70% of U.S. households will be measured by People Meters. As a consequence, there will be continuous demographic reporting in these markets 365 days a year. This will allow local markets to receive demographic information for events such as college basketball’s March Madness, playoff games, award shows, and Christmas holiday programming, which typically air outside traditional “sweeps” measurement periods.
Introducing electronic measurement to all local markets is part of Nielsen’s Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) initiative. The 10 largest local U.S. markets are already measured by LPMs, and plans for eight more that will be converted this year and in 2008 were previously announced.
The 38 new LPM markets that Nielsen announced Thursday are: Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Fla.; Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto; St. Louis; Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; Baltimore; Charlotte; Indianapolis; San Diego; Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville)
Hartford and New Haven; Nashville; Kansas City; Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati; Milwaukee; Salt Lake City; Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson; San Antonio West Palm Beach; Birmingham [Anniston and Tuscaloosa]; Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News; Las Vegas; Albuquerque-Santa Fe; Oklahoma City; Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem; Memphis; Louisville; Jacksonville; Buffalo; Austin; Providence-New Bedford; New Orleans; Knoxville; Richmond-Petersburg; Tulsa; Dayton; and Fort Myers-Naples.
