The Hispanic audience's growing power in US television was confirmed when Nielsen, the ratings group, said it would scrap a segregated system for measuring viewers and include Latinos in its main tally. The decision is a victory for Univision, the US's largest Spanish-language broadcaster, and Telemundo, a rival network owned by NBC Universal, which had been lobbying for the change.

Nielsen introduced a separate Latino ratings system – the National Hispanic People Meter – 15 years ago amid complaints that its general sample was too small to accurately reflect the viewing habits of US Hispanics. Language barriers also made it difficult for Nielsen to recruit Hispanic households for its survey.

Categories: Advertising, Articles