Brad Adgate

It’s certainly no secret that media people have beefs with Nielsen, and every so often they like to clear the air. Last week the American Association of Advertising Agencies released a white paper asking Nielsen to address problems with the paper diary system that’s currently used in 154 markets. The paper came from a committee co-chaired by Annalect’s Jon Cogan and Horizon Media’s Brad Adgate. Cogan and Adgate talk about changes they’d like to see from Nielsen, why Media Rating Council involvement is needed, and whether we’ll ever see electronic meters in every market.

It’s hard to fully grasp just how much the TV landscape has changed over the past five years. DVR penetration has gone from 17 percent to 45 percent, video on demand has begun to impinge on primetime viewership, and people are consciously cutting the cord on their pay TV subscriptions in favor of online video. Brad Adgate, research SVP at Horizon Media, talks about how new technology affects advertisers, how DVRs can help gauge a show’s popularity, and why social media is helpful to media people.

In today’s multi-channel, multi-screen environment, what had once been a greatly anticipated quarterly event has become, well, somewhat unimportant. And there’s another problem with sweeps: the weakness of its methodology and the growing strength of year-round ratings.