Agent of Change

Ceo Mitch Barns Has Taken Nielsen on an Acquisitive Path to Shed Old Perceptions and Build New Businesses.

- David Gianatasio

Two weeks ago, Nielsen began phasing out its paper TV ratings diaries for the 140 local markets in which the antiquated system is still active. By the middle of next year, Nielsen says, it will provide electronic measurement across all of its 210 designated market areas.

How big a deal is that? Well, that depends on your point of view.

All told, Nielsen data underpins and informs a staggering $70 billion in annual ad sales, but these days the paper diaries account for less than 5 percent of the company’s TV business. Nielsen’s national ratings system and most of its local DMAs long ago adopted set-top-box data and other modern methods to calculate viewing numbers.

Given those parameters, industry watchers like Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser believe that Nielsen’s move to trash its remaining logbooks “wasn’t very important, considering how little of their revenue was associated with diaries.” But others maintain the symbolic significance is profound, as pulping the diaries marks a key break with Nielsen’s analog past and another stride toward its pervasively digital future.

Mostly, it’s a matter of perception. Nielsen is often criticized as slow to change, sluggish to adapt its processes to suit the complex needs of clients across a media and marketing landscape in constant flux. The continued use of paper journals by any portion of Nielsen’s 40,000 viewing households (encompassing 100,000 viewers) hurts the company’s image. Indeed, a New York Times story reminding readers of the existence of the diaries this past February unleashed a fresh wave of scorn in the marketplace.