Thursday, February 17, 2005

Texas media gets more honest

At least when it comes to ad rates in Dallas and Houston. Nielson's Local People Meter -- the new device that's resulting in more accurate measurement of TV viewers -- will hit Dallas this year. Good news for advertisers, but not for broadcasters. Since LPMs have been used in the top 5 US media markets, ratings have dropped "slightly to significantly," meaning old ways of gauging audiences were overstating the numbers and overcharging advertisers. And because LPMs record year-round, it could mean the end of Sweeps.

In radio, Arbitron challenger Navigauge is coming to Houston. But this is creepy: "Navigauge gathers information about the radio-listening habits of people in their cars by using a device...that monitors all radio activity in the vehicles. That information is combined with a GPS locator system that tracks the route of cars and can be used to determine if a driver visited a retailer or restaurant after it was advertised on the radio. The company sells the information to radio station operators and advertisers." Creepy and just a little gimmicky.

Now if only someone could come up with a device for newspapers....

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