NBC Takes First in New Rating System; CBS, ABC Cry Foul

To no one’s surprise, NBC has wrapped up the first national ratings “sweeps” race counted solely by the new people-meter audience-measurement system. But CBS’ research chief assessed the results Tuesday as “basically confused.”

David Poltrak, vice president of research at CBS, which is running second in the November ratings period, said that two people-meter systems that only his network uses “don’t agree with each other” and over-represent pay-cable homes to the detriment of CBS.

“Well, I have problems with his assessment, but not terrible problems with it,” responded NBC research vice president Gerald Jaffe, whose network is expected to end this season as No. 1 in the prime-time ratings for the third straight year.

And, he said, referring to what he called NBC’s 11th consecutive victory in the prime-time ratings sweeps held in February, May, July and November, “I don’t think there’s any confusion of the fact that we won.”

Jaffe and Poltrak spoke at separate news conferences here after releasing nearly complete national estimates for the Oct. 29-Nov. 25 sweeps period, during which viewing levels are surveyed in each of the nation’s more than 200 television markets. Stations use those ratings to sell commercial time in the months ahead.

The two networks’ A. C. Nielsen prime-time returns--lacking only the last three days of the race--showed NBC an easy winner with a 16.8 average, followed by CBS at 13.9 and ABC far in the rear at 12.4. Each Nielsen point, currently based on a national people-meter sample of 2,300 households, represents 886,000 homes.

With the Nielsen people-meters, viewers push buttons on a device attached to their set to indicate which programs they are watching. The system was implemented last fall to replace one that involved both viewer diaries and “passive” meters atop TV sets, which recorded what program was on but not specifically who in the household was watching it.

CBS this year also began using data from a similar people-meter system of the AGB ratings company. That system is in 2,000 U.S. households. Each AGB ratings point represents 8,000 more homes than the Nielsen sample.

According to Poltrak’s ratings averages for October and this month, the AGB estimate, while not changing the three-network order of finish, showed CBS nine-tenths of a ratings point higher than the Nielsen estimate. NBC scored six-tenths of a ratings point higher in the AGB sample, while ABC lost eight-tenths of a point.

The different findings, Poltrak said, indicate “confusion” that, because millions of advertising dollars are at stake, “has got to be dealt with in the marketplace.”

He also said a comparison of Nielsen ratings for the current sweep period and the same period last year show CBS and ABC averages each down by 13% and NBC down just slightly. However, he said, a study of comparable ratings for 13 major markets showed CBS’ decline to be only 3%.

“The issue has become, ‘Who’s right?’ ” he said of the two ratings services that his network employs. To attempt to find an answer, he warned, CBS “won’t flinch” at making a costly national telephone survey known as a “coincidental” to cross-check ratings figures.

And, he said, CBS also is “going to challenge the ratings services to prove which one is right. . . . I think we’re going to put a lot of the analytic burden on the ratings services.”

Officials at Nielsen were not immediately available for comment.