It was revealed
at a panel discussion of TV audience metrics that few people in the industry
know that Nielsen's C3 rating were accredited, let alone nearly a year ago, MediaDailyNews
reported.
The Media Rating Council conducted an
extensive audit of Nielsen's C3 ratings three years after the national TV
advertising marketplace shifted to these estimates to base its advertisement planning;
the ratings were accredited in June 2010. However, the announcement of the accreditation
was lost in a release about Nielsen's local people meter ratings. Nielsen
executives contend that it was the MRC's responsibility to release the
information, while the MRC says otherwise.
The situation
raises questions as to how news of accreditation, which is intended to ensure
media ratings users that that data had been thoroughly reviewed and audited by
an objective third party, should be released; no current bylaw exists to govern
the release of MRC's audit results.
