Nielsen recently completed its three-market test regarding the reliability of set-top-box (STB) data, and the company is confident it can fix the problems, according to MediaPost.
Nielsen's senior vice president Pat Dineen, says that with this test, the company will figure out a way to measure all homes in a certain market and also account for when a set-top-box is on but the viewer is not watching. Dineen also stated that the test proved that its current panel-based measurement is reliable.
Nielsen is going with a "hybrid" approach to its local-market ratings service, combining its traditional data with the new STB data. The company will begin to share the test results with clients over the next few months.
The three markets that were used for the test were St. Louis (local people meters0, Greenville, S.C. (set meters) and Reno, Nev. (diaries). Each market represented one of the types of measurements Nielsen uses.
