Raycom Scaling Back Its Nielsen Usage

Raycom Media has ceased using Nielsen data in 23 markets, and it won’t be using Nielsen at stations the company bought recently in five other markets as well, confirms Billy McDowell, vice president of research for the Raycom group.

Raycom has been opting for ComScore data in the 23 markets since December, McDowell said. Four other stations the company bought as part of its purchase of Drewry Communications last December will revert to ComScore when their Nielsen contracts expire early next year, he said. The stations are KXXV Waco, Texas (DMA 87), KFDA Amarillo, Texas (DMA 131), KWES Odessa-Midland, Texas (DMA 145) and KSWO Wichita Falls, Texas-Lawton, Okla. (DMA 147).

A fifth station — KNIN Boise, Idaho (DMA 107), that Raycom bought last fall — will go with ComScore-only beginning this July.

The 28 markets are smaller markets where Nielsen’s paper diaries have long been the ratings currency. The markets are not among those where Nielsen has transitioned recently from paper diaries to a measurement system using electronic code readers and so-called “viewer assignment” demographic data derived from nearby people-meter markets.

“We decided not to go forward in diary markets, as even Nielsen will tell you the diary is not adequate in today’s media environment,” McDowell told TVNewsCheck. “We still subscribe [to Nielsen] in LPM [local people meter] and set-meter markets along with the new code reader markets,” he said.

Currently, Nielsen has electronic measurement in 70 markets — 25 markets using local people meters, 31 set-meter markets and 14 code reader markets. But the rest are still using a measurement system based solely on paper diaries. There’s no word from Nielsen on when — or if — any or all of these other markets will be transitioned from diaries to code readers, particularly in smaller markets.

But ComScore offers electronic measurement in every size market. One source even told TVNewsCheck that a number of stations in smaller markets, in addition to those owned by Raycom, have made the switch from to Nielsen to ComScore, or are considering it.

“We have known for some time the diary was not working well,” McDowell said. “It lost MRC [Media Rating Council] accreditation in 2009. In the past couple of years, the response rates plummeted and overall viewing levels dropped well below electronically measured markets. What bothered us most was the instability of the numbers. The Local Measurement Committee of the CRE [Council for Research Excellence] did a study around the variability in 2012 and it was clear then how statistical ‘noise’ accounted for most of the variation.”

By contrast, he said, “We have found the stability of the ComScore [data] to be a major benefit, not to mention the 365 days of measurement and the advanced targeting information [ComScore provides].

“In the past two weeks, Nielsen has announced a plan to go forward with some set-top box information,” McDowell said. “Their scheme will be much different than ComScore, but it is clear ‘Big Data’ is needed in today’s media environment for stability and to get granular data across all markets.”

While Raycom still subscribes to Nielsen in all of its LPM and set-meter markets, the company also subscribes to ComScore in all of those markets (except Hawaii), he said.

“While we don’t discuss the specifics of our agreements, we are working closely with Raycom Media in many local markets to measure television and provide them with qualitative insights,” Nielsen said in a prepared statement. “We continue to provide audience measurement, advertising insights and transactional services in a wide range of Raycom markets. We deeply value our relationship with Raycom Media and look forward to continuing our work together.”