• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 1, 2013

Arbitron says data collection will take off in the first six months of 2013 for its cross-platform measurement project for ESPN. The initiative, announced last year, is being conducted along with comScore.
 
The radio measurement company noted the process in a government filing, where it also cited a separate deal with ESPN running through late 2014.
 
The Arbitron-comScore project calls for measurement of five screens --radio, TV, PCs, smartphones and tablets -- where ESPN has a notable presence. Among the tools to be employed are TV set-top-box data from comScore and Arbitron’s portable people meter.
 
In the announcement, Arbitron and comScore said the plan is to develop a measurement service that would be available to all media companies and agencies.
 
Arbitron and ESPN signed a three-year deal in 2011 for Arbitron to measure NFL and college football games on TV and radio. Nielsen has a deal to acquire Arbitron, so the fate of the comScore partnership could be in question, since Nielsen competes with the company.
 
The ESPN projects are bringing in some subset of the $3.2 million Arbitron collected last year for cross-platform and Arbitron Mobile initiatives.

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