by Dave Zornow
Published in the Cynopsis:Weekender, The Currency Keepers 7/13/06
Ben Bernanke and Susan Whiting and have a lot in common.
As Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Bernanke is chief architect for US economic policy. Whiting is president of Nielsen Media Research, the nation's television ratings company. Both are charged with protecting and defending their respective currencies. Mr. Bernanke is the master monetary minder for the US and Ms. Whiting’s domain is the TV media business.
Both have tremendous responsibilities and limited tools.
A former Fed chairman once described the job as "taking away the punch bowl just when the party gets going.” Bernanke gets to adjust interest rates and make speeches, yet the nation’s top banker is criticized for inflation, energy prices, declining housing starts, Katrina reconstruction, tax cuts, inflation, social security shortfalls and ballooning trade deficits.
Nielsen, as keeper of the currency for the nation’s multi-billion dollar media business, has its own formidable task. They produce syndicated estimates of TV usage. Minor methodological and policy changes can shift the balance between buyer and seller producing consequences both dramatic and unintended.
Off hand comments by Bernanke can make markets all over the world rise and fall. He can’t control how analysts interpret his remarks. Whiting has similar challenges. Response to legitimate client requests can shift market perceptions and undermine the research basis for the currency. A few press announcements can create a frenzy overturning a 60 year old system of proven program ratings with an untested and unreliable commercial ratings substitute. Nielsen may be keeper of the currency, but they have limited influence on how people use their data.
Nielsen’s best effort at reporting granularity is limited to 60 second increments. It’s the responsibility of the buyers, sellers, advertisers, trade associations and trade press to realize that 60 second spots haven’t been the norm since the 1960s. Just because you CAN produce a number doesn’t mean it is legitimate to do so.
Whiting and Bernanke share one final distinction: both have been known to testify to Congress when one of their constituencies doesn’t like the results of something that they have done. ##
Dave Zornow is President/TNG Research, a media research consultancy and applications development company that works with media sellers and research providers.
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