After the completion of a two-year pilot program, Nielsen Media Research announced last week that it plans to launch a program to measure the television habits of college students living away from home, a move that has garnered approval from Boston University professors who are curious about their students’ TV habits.
Beginning in 2007, Nielsen will install measurement devices called People Meters in the college residences of students whose families already participate in Nielsen’s television ratings system. According to a press release on the company’s website, this is the first time Nielsen ratings will include family members living outside of a sample household.
“Nielsen has long been under pressure to measure viewing outside the home,” Television Program Director Cathy Perron said. “This includes television viewing, not only in college dorms, but in sports bars [and] airports.”
According to Nielsen, overall viewing levels for the 18- to 24-year-old demographic could increase by three to 12 percent as a result of college students’ inclusion in ratings.
“In markets where there is a substantial college population-Boston, for example-ratings for programs that target younger demos will certainly rise,” Perron said. “When you think about it, this measurement is long overdue. Where else can you measure a large population of 18- to 24-year-olds for consistent television viewing but in a college dorm?”
During the 2004-05 school year, college students watched an average of 24.3 hours of television a week, Nielsen reported.
“Nielsen’s 24-hour figure does surprise me,” Perron said. “It feels low, but college students also spend many hours on the internet … viewing over traditional distribution may become further factionalized and without accurate measurement.”
College of Communication Associate Dean Tobe Berkovitz said the new ratings system will make quantifiable data about the viewing habits of college students available to advertisers, many of whom consider this group a desirable target.
“Young adults spend their money freely,” he said. “Companies want to start creating brand loyalty.”
Berkovitz said there is no guarantee that the Nielsen ratings are accurate, however.
He added that the implementation of the new system would not provide the only solution to advertisers looking to target the 18-to-24-year-old demographic. Companies must also try to reach college students with internet ads, product placement in video games and other means of nontraditional advertising, he said.
