TV Networks Join to Fund Ratings Research : Media: Project’s aim is to improve audience measurement.

In a move that could set the stage for the creation of a rival to the A.C. Nielsen TV-ratings service, the three major commercial networks said Thursday they have commissioned Statistical Research Inc. (SRI) of New Jersey to develop and test methods of improving TV audience measurement.

Capital Cities/ABC, NBC and CBS each have made what was described as a multimillion-dollar, multiyear commitment to the research project through the Committee on Nationwide Television Audience Measurement, an industry group to which they and the National Assn. of Broadcasters belong.

SRI, an independent research firm specializing in media, marketing and statistical research, has done work for TV and radio networks and advertisers. It also produces RADAR, a network radio audience measurement service.

“Our goal is to develop better audience measurement,” said David Poltrack, vice president in charge of audience research at CBS. He and other CONTAM members hope the new project will motivate Nielsen to make changes in its current ratings technologies.

“I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say this is also designed to ease the eventual entry (into the TV-ratings business) by competitors,” he said.

New York-based Nielsen, a unit of the Dun & Bradstreet Corp., is the only national TV-audience measurement service remaining in the United States. The networks, which each pay millions of dollars a year to obtain the data, previously have supported some failed rival services.

The three broadcast networks, which have seen their audiences decline steadily over the past decade amid the growing number of alternative video outlets, have expressed dissatisfaction with the Nielsen ratings service, whose determination of how many people are watching a given program helps determine the amount of money broadcasters can charge for commercials. They maintain that the Nielsen numbers are imprecise and do not reflect the ways people view TV in today’s multimedia environment.

Jack Loftus, a vice president at Nielsen, said, “We welcome any research that would improve the quality of audience measurement. But we think everyone should be included. We don’t just measure the three networks--there’s the Fox network, 33 cable networks, ad agencies, syndicators and others . . . who bring their own agendas to the table.”

Nicholas Schiavone, vice president for media and marketing research at NBC, said the networks hope to persuade other TV companies and ad agencies to join the project.

Loftus acknowledged that the networks’ backing of SRI’s effort “is designed to prod Nielsen.” But he said, “I doubt if the three networks want to get into the business of setting up a multimillion-dollar ratings service.”

London-based AGB Research, the originator of the “people-meter” to measure TV audience, was said to have lost about $67 million in trying to bring its service to the United States in 1987.

SRI executives were vague about what they consider the advantages of their system, which is still under development. They said it requires no special wiring in the home and is “user-friendly.”