• by October 7, 2002

Nielsen//NetRatings and Interactive Market Systems (IMS), today announced the latest customer wins for WebRF, the reach and frequency media planning tool for Internet audience measurement. Yahoo!, Universal McCann, Optimedia and Deutsch are the newest subscribers to the WebRF service in the U.S.

Developed jointly by Nielsen//NetRatings and IMS and available globally in 12 countries, WebRF provides media planners the tools to assess the potential success of their Internet advertising campaigns prior to launch, a capability that was previously only available to traditional media.

WebRF combines Nielsen//NetRatings research on Internet consumer behavior with IMS software technology to offer a breadth of reach and frequency analyses. WebRF gives buyers and planners the ability to map campaigns for specified target markets, identifying the pages and sites with the highest proportion of audience within a specified budget. The service also provides media planners with key perspectives into audience behavior, enabling packages of pages or sites to be combined for promotion to many different demographic targets. For advertisers, WebRF helps to better assess placement of online advertising and keeps track of how effectively budgets are being managed.

"The online advertising industry has been waiting for a complete media planning tool that delivers previously unavailable reach and frequency information, enabling clients to produce highly efficient online media plans," said Judit Nagy, market research manager, Yahoo! "WebRF is a great complement to already available pre-planning tools, such as Nielsen//NetRatings' Audience Measurement, AdRelevance, and @plan services to support media planning."

"It's crucial for the online industry to have the same level of sophisticated research tools as traditional media," said Susan Nathan, senior vice president and director of media knowledge, Universal McCann. "Through WebRF, advertisers can efficiently research and plan cost-effective Internet campaigns before actual launch, optimizing media spending and increasing success rates."

"The addition of the WebRF tool integrated with Nielsen//NetRatings data provides Optimedia with a powerful strategic resource that will effectively enhance our planning capabilities in the Internet arena," said Craig Gugel, executive principal and director of strategic insights, Optimedia International U.S., Inc. "The tool simplifies the compilation of website performance views, making it a valuable daily information source."

"WebRF allows us to show Deutsch clients how their online advertising efforts work with traditional media in metrics they recognize," said Liz Nash, vice president and media research director, Deutsch Inc. "The ability to measure the Internet in a comparable fashion to traditional media is a major development for the industry and helps us provide valuable insights to our clients."

In addition to the U.S. customer wins announced today, worldwide WebRF clients include Euro RSCG, McCann-Erickson, Grey Media Beyond Interactive, One Media, MindShare, Carat and NineMSN.

The Nielsen//NetRatings WebRF service is currently available in 12 countries worldwide, including Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.