Nielsen to finally overhaul its dinosaur local TV ratings system next year

Nielsen household diaries may soon be a thing of the past -- or at least in about a year or so.

The ratings giant said Wednesday that it plans to phase out its antiquated paper measurement system -- in which select households write down their television intake -- throughout 140 local markets by the middle of next year.

By early 2018, if all goes according to plan, it will have outfitted each of its more than 200 measurement regions with set-top boxes and other electronic measurement tools, finally eliminating the paper surveys for good.

Nielsen already uses the more modern methods on a national scale.

The long-overdue change comes as the company rolls out a new metric that will track viewers across different platforms and devices in order to better map the disparate ways in which people now watch TV.

While more modern and arguably better measurement tools already exist to serve that purpose, Nielsen's legacy as the ratings arbiter of record persists even as the company scrambles to join the 21st century.

The announcement follows a New York Times story published earlier this year in which a real-life Nielsen diary-keeper and others questioned the company's technological competence.

“Is Nielsen not paying attention to technology?" the designated TV viewer told the paper. "Don’t they notice that something has changed?”

Nielsen has in fact noticed, said Steve Hasker, the company's president and chief operating officer, to Adweek shortly after the Times story was published.

He said the company has been trying to ditch the dead trees for years. He also blamed television networks for the sluggishness, since paper diaries are more likely to emphasize longer viewing times for network TV shows, rather than clips and other short-form video.