Obituary: Audience Researcher Ceril Shagrin

Long-time Nielsen and Univision audience researcher Ceril Shagrin, described as 'a fierce champion of transparent and inclusive measurement', died peacefully in Miami on July 3rd, at the age of 89.

Shagrin (pictured) was known across the broadcast media, advertising and marketing sectors for her efforts to push standards of excellence within the Media Rating Council and Council for Research Excellence, as well as her stand against the underrepresentation of the US Hispanic sample in ratings.

She began her research career with Nielsen in 1972 and spent nearly 27 years there, latterly serving as SVP of Market Development. During her time with the company, she helped launch a division focusing exclusively on measuring out-of-home network audiences. In addition, she co-invented a patented solution relating to a passive identification apparatus for identifying a 'predetermined individual member of a television viewing audience in a monitored viewing area'.

After leaving Nielsen in 1999, Shagrin spent the next 23 years at American Spanish-language TV network Univision, where she went on to serve as EVP of Corporate Audience Measurement, Innovation and Analytics. In 2004, she drove the company's move to file a suit against Nielsen over its Local People Meter (LPM) plans in Los Angeles, claiming that the solution inaccurately reflected minority broadcast media consumption. The lawsuit was dropped later that year.

However, a decade after she joined the company, when Univision refused to encode its radio stations in certain markets for Arbitron's Personal People Meter (PPM) radio ratings system, which differed from Nielsen's LPM at the time, Shagrin testified at a government hearing to what she called 'serious flaws' in PPM. At the time, she described the 'adverse affects' of those flaws on minority broadcasters and listeners, concluding that PPM 'threatened to undermine the goal of a diverse radio marketplace and deny tens of millions of listeners access to the programming they want'. At that time, Shagrin said that Univision had had to take a stand because it was impacting the company's revenue, as well as that of Arbitron. (Arbitron was later acquired by Nielsen).

When Shagrin retired from Univision in 2016, the firm created an Intranet portal, offering access to her writings and research, and after an internal competition, the team agreed to name it 'Ask Ceril.com'. Univision's current EVP of Research, Insights and Analytics, Robert Ruiz said on LinkedIn that he thought of Shagrin as a 'mentor and friend' as well as a 'towering professional in the field of media research'.

Peter Bradbury, Chief Commercial Officer at Nielsen, added: 'The media measurement industry lost a giant with the passing of Ceril Shagrin, the first woman Senior Vice President at Nielsen who was a fierce champion of transparent and inclusive measurement during her nearly three decades at Nielsen Media Research. It was Ceril who first pushed the company to develop measurement of Hispanic audiences. That led to our efforts to ensure our panels accurately reflected all diverse populations - a commitment that is still ongoing to this day. So many of us knew and treasured Ceril. She was an icon and inspiration to many. She will be missed by all'.

Shagrin was predeceased by her husband Jerry, and is survived by four children, four grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and her brother and sister. A funeral service was held on Sunday, July 10th in Palm Harbor, FL.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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