• by Joe Mandese , May 3, 2005

Nielsen Media Research, whose interests historically have been heavily influenced by the big broadcast and cable TV clients that pay the majority of its fees, is close to naming a council of nine senior marketers - each representing a major advertising category - to advise the research company on how its methods impact the ad industry. The so-called Advertiser Advisory Council will launch within 30-days, Nielsen President-CEO Susan Whiting said in a letter sent to clients on Friday.

The council was one of several advances in customer outreach Nielsen has made since Whiting unveiled a plan to overhaul the TV ratings giant earlier this year. Another big step, she said, is the creation of a "Board of Trustees" to oversee a new research and development fund Nielsen has committed to bankrolling. The new fund, which is incremental to and independent of Nielsen's own internal R&D efforts overseen by Chief Research Officer Paul Donato, has an initial annual budget of $2.5 million.

Nielsen previously announced that Richard Zackon, a consultant, New York University professor and former head of research at the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau and Court TV, is managing the fund.

Whiting said the fund is in the process of recruiting a "smaller Steering Committee," which would "steward ideas for research that will be executed," and that a technical committee including academics was also being developed.

The efforts of the fund would be determined by a board, which would be comprised of "30 to 40" voting members, is expected to be in place in the next few weeks and an initial board meeting is planned for June.

Based on Whiting's communiqué, the field of audience measurement research and development could be getting pretty crowded. In her letter, Whiting said Nielsen has asked to learn more about the Media Rating Council's plan for a "Research Consortium" and to "consider our participation in it."

In January, the MRC, the media research industry's watchdog, proposed the formation of an Industry-funded research consortium to study the effectiveness of measurement methodologies and pursue development of better measurement techniques. The consortium, the MRC said, would operate independently of the MRC, though the MRC would be involved in it, as well as various research suppliers such as Nielsen.

MRC Executive Director George Ivie has proposed that the consortium operate within the Advertising Research Foundation, which has been working with its members to create what it has dubbed an "entity." That word has been used, because the ARF has not yet determined the framework of the consortium, as well as its legal parameters, though it has been careful to avoid describing it as a JIC, or a "joint industry committee," which some people, including Nielsen executive, believe might violate U.S. antitrust rules.

During its annual conference in April, the ARF provided an update of the initiative and indicated it is making progress, but is still conducting research among its members.

Meanwhile, Nielsen's Whiting said Nielsen has scheduled a meeting with the MRC staff and its executive board in early May to "pursue these issues further."

Separately, Whiting said Nielsen is on schedule to deliver a video-on-demand measurement plan soon, will relaunch its much maligned NPOWER data management system in July, and will introduced a "revised pricing strategy" for its national respondent level data this month.