Nielsen Plans Changes in Audience Tracking

Nielsen Media Research, the largest tracker of U.S. TV viewing habits, said it might sample more minority households with its local “people meter” devices to ensure that the service accurately measures audiences.

The proposed change at New York-based Nielsen comes in response to a report released by a task force set up to ensure that minority viewers are properly counted. That recommendation and others must be approved by Nielsen’s clients, a company spokesman said.

News Corp., owner of the Fox broadcast network, and Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Corp. last year argued against wider use of Nielsen’s people meters because they said the boxes undercounted minority viewers.