Peoplemeters And Customer Vigilance
Peter Menneer
For any developed TV marketplace the watchword for all users of an audience measurement system ought to be vigilance. Firstly, because the ratings form the currency for airtime trading. The numbers are critical to the livelihood of each competing channel, including those not directly funded by advertising. Secondly, because a lack of vigilance can have dramatic implications for the quality of the numbers delivered by the system and forming the basis of the trading currency.
Academics like to draw a distinction between reliability and validity. Can we be reasonably confident that today's currency is...