World: Media Analysis - Nielsen encounters concerted opposition to US TV monitoring.(Television audience ratings)

Media coalition fears LPMs will misrepresent minority groups, Ann Cooper reports.

The continuing and increasingly rancorous dispute over the roll-out of Nielsen Media Research's local people meters is imbued with the sturm und drang of a melodramatic soap opera, uniting political adversaries and involving intrigue, press leaks, a bitter legal battle and a multimillion-dollar media campaign. Who'd have thought that a venerable decades-old research organisation could elicit such passion and controversy?

At issue is the Nielsen system of measuring TV ratings. Since the 50s, Nielsen has used highly unscientific methods, such as set-top boxes and paper diaries, to calculate numbers. The LPMs would provide more accurate ratings, gathered daily rather than over a four-month sweep period.

But critics claim the new ratings system …