For Nielsen, Digital TV Transition No Worse Than Christmas

Even as lawmakers voted to extend the U.S. transition to digital TV broadcasting for another four months, Nielsen executives maintain that the TV ratings firm is more than prepared even if that transition were to occur today. "Given where we are on the digital transition today, the effect would be less than what we have over a normal Christmas season," Pat McDonough, senior vice president-insights, analysis and policy of Nielsen Co. told MediaDailyNews of Nielsen's current preparedness. By the Christmas season, McDonough was referring to the amount of technological change that occurs in television households during a typical holiday season, when consumers purchase new televisions or other electronic equipment that change how they receive and watch TV, causing Nielsen engineers and field workers to troubleshoot how those households are metered for ratings. McDonough said during the average Christmas holiday season, 10% of the Nielsen ratings sample is impacted by changes in TV viewing technology, including new TV sets, DVRs, DVDs, and other equipment. She said it normally takes Nielsen a couple of weeks to adjust to those changes, but estimated that if the digital TV transition were to happen now it would impact only about 6% of the households in Nielsen's sample.