The 2010 U.S. Census Count Will Drive Your Ratings For The Next Decade
Jay Albright
Albright & O’Malley
Writer Lornet Turnbull really got me to thinking of THE question to talk about at this week’s Arbitron Fly-In, arguably even more fundamental than sample sizes, diary measurement or PPM:
Where will you be on Census Day — living in your RV, couch surfing at your friends’, squatting in your parents’ basement? The U.S. Census Bureau is preparing to count the more than 308 million men, women and children living in the country April 1, 2010. With just 10 questions on next year’s form, this would seem simple enough. Yet the count is likely to be not just the most costly but possibly one of the most difficult ever staged.
“We are studying a population that is harder to count than the 2000 population,” -census director Robert Groves
Both ARB and Nielsen need reliable census data if we are to hope that their audience estimates in the next ten years will be accurate and representative.
What are we all going to do if any group in the general population feels that the 2010 Census is suspect?
Future budgets .. from advertising to even federal revenue sharing, depend on getting it right!
