Big Data and Nielsen Agree on the Rate of Linear Decline

In my August 27 column, I reported on the biggest shift in US TV audience measurement methodology in history. The panel method has been the basis for currency used in transactions since the dawn of television, not only in the US but in at least 40 other countries. In most other countries, this is still the case. In the US, Nielsen (a consulting client of mine), with clients and MRC on board, and after years of the industry looking at parallel sets of data, switched the currency to panel + BD (big data) this year, as planned and collectively agreed to. Obviously, a handful of people objected to this because getting everyone to 100% agree on anything is impossible, as Abe Lincoln pointed out long before television.