• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 31, 2008

Knowledge Networks, a Silicon Valley-based company that conducts consumer research in multiple fields, will serve as a quasi-Nielsen for NBC Universal during the Olympics. KN will provide overnight data regarding time spent consuming Olympic content across NBCU outlets, but also in newspapers and radio where the company doesn't have a presence.

KN's overnights will cover TV, Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and radio, where its data will be derived from some 500 interviews a day with members of a nationwide panel. More than a dozen NBCU properties--across TV, the Internet and mobile--will be part of the research.

KN said the research will give NBCU insight on a daily basis that could allow it to adjust its coverage focus. Perhaps more likely, the research could be used to help sell ads for the next two Olympics on NBC, Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012.

KN said NBCU "will better understand when and where consumers are interacting with the Olympics across many platforms, providing daily tactical guidance as well as strategic insights for serving advertiser partners in future Games."

It's unclear what conclusions NBCU may draw from KN's research about Olympic content consumption in magazines or on radio, although it's likely to be used to some degree to try and demonstrate that the Olympics remain a consumer draw.

As far as its own properties, the research is another step as NBCU aims to put together a total reach figure for its Olympics coverage across its platforms. KN could offer a nightly report on unduplicated audiences for specific Olympic events.

NBCU's research president Alan Wurtzel said the company is "seek(ing) out new ways to understand and define the value that NBC's multi-platform Olympics coverage delivers to advertisers."

NBCU will be offering a slew of events live on the Internet from Beijing starting Aug. 8. At the 2006 Torino Games, it had one--the hockey gold medal game.

KN's research could offer some insight into how many people are watching the Games in bars, hotel rooms and in other places where Nielsen does not track TV viewing.

KN said NBCU "will also gain insights about respondents' (to its daily survey) demographic and product purchase and use characteristics."

KN has conducted Olympic research for NBC since the 1988 Seoul Games.