Nielsen: Anytime, Anywhere, But Not Anytime Soon

Earlier this year Nielsen Media Research unveiled plans for an ambitious slate of initiatives to expand its ability to measure TV content across an array of new platforms and locations. But the project, dubbed "Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement," doesn't look like it will bear fruit anytime soon. In letters sent to clients Wednesday inviting them to join various advisory committees, Nielsen said it expects the committees to meet "approximately every four months."

The letter, sent by General Manager-Strategic Measurement Initiatives Jack Oken, does not offer a specific time frame for the projects, was officially announced in June, and covers a slate of ambitious concurrent research and development projects designed to bring Nielsen into the 21st Century of audience measurement. Clients have credited Nielsen for embarking on the bold, multi-pronged expansion, but some have also wondered whether the company shouldn't be focusing its resources more on improving its current ratings systems.

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The program, also known as "A2/M2," has been divided into six fronts dealing with 1) the integration of TV and Internet measurement; 2) bringing electronic audience measurement to local TV markets ranked 25 through 60 via meters and "passive tags," 3) bringing electronic audience measurement to local TV markets ranked 61 through 125 via electronic measurement and even smaller markets via "mailable meters;" measurement of out-of-home viewing; measurement of viewing on personal video devices; and measurement on TV audience engagement.

Oken noted that the engagement committee has already been formed, and executives familiar with that initiative say Nielsen has already begun building a panel of ex-people meter households that will be used to test various methods for measuring how engaged they are with TV programming and advertising. Those households will continue to be metered using Nielsen's people meters, but will also participate in supplemental surveys asking them about their recall and attitudes about TV content.

No explicit guidelines have been earmarked for the other initiatives, but Oken said the committees would be comprised of between 10 and 15 clients who would work in conjunction with Nielsen executives to evaluate various technologies and methodologies.

The expansion plans come as Nielsen has launched a variety of other new audience measurement services ranging from tracking video-on-demand to audience exposure at live sporting events and even content on the blogosphere, and as it prepares to rollout video-on-demand measurement in its regular TV ratings sample. That rollout was recently postponed due to a delay in Nielsen's software development. Nielsen's mainstay clients are also pushing the company to make improvements and enhancements to its core TV ratings systems, including new commercial minutes ratings that have become the source of considerable debate among clients.

Nielsen has also taken the lead position in parent VNU's development of an ambitious joint venture with Arbitron to measure both product usage and media audience exposure. That initiative, dubbed Project Apollo, last week released the first set of field trial data to the media companies participating in the test.

All of these efforts coincide with the spin-off of Nielsen's parent VNU's conversion into a private company held by a group of private equity firms, higher levels of debt leverage and servicing, and pressure to increase cash flow and new revenue streams.

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