The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies took a strong stand in the name of its 85 member agencies against the use of the Nielsen Television Index for this year’s advertising upfront and instead recommended the use of the Nielsen Hispanic Television Index.
In an April 25 statement, the AHAA expressed concern that there were only a few months of NTI data and the figures are less detailed than NHTI when it comes to language segmentation and Hispanics. It also mentioned technical concerns about sample size and the weighting of Hispanics. According to AHAA, Nielsen has not yet set the cost for Hispanic agencies to acquire the NTI data.
Telemundo has said that it is happy to negotiate upfront deals using NHTI, while Univision has clearly stated that it prefers to use NTI. Univision's stance has provoked widespread concern and grumbling among media buyers at Hispanic agencies.
The debate will be shaped, in part, by how the largest multicultural media buying agencies tackle the issue. Tapestry, the single largest buyer of Hispanic television advertising, would not discuss the upfront or NTI as they are still in discussions with clients.
