Who's Most Likely to Buy Your Brand?†

Nielsen Connect CEO Jon Mandel Aims to Find Out

Advertising Age, August 6, 2008 — When he was one of the industry's top media-buying executives, Jon Mandel needed the equivalent of a rifle to target consumers, but all he had was a bazooka. Now he's gone from pressing the industry for better data to measure the effectiveness of commercials to building the rifle himself. As CEO of Nielsen Connect, he's charged with finding a way to move the industry away from traditional demographic-based media plans in favor of those that more directly influence consumer behavior.

NBCU, Nielsen Team on New Sales Measure†

Partnership Will Cull Data from TV Ratings, Online Video Streaming, Consumer Activity

Advertising Age, June 2, 2008 — NBC Universal and Nielsen have decided to collaborate on new sales measures using data from TV ratings, online video streaming and consumer activity based on specific industry categories. It's just the latest step by a TV network to cobble together information for advertisers that goes beyond the typical reach-and-frequency ratings that have been the benchmark of the business for decades.

The two companies said their alliance is designed to "move advertising sales beyond traditional demographic data" and promote the development of new sales and marketing measures.

Nielsen to Buy IAG Research for $225 Million†

Adds Qualitative Measurement to Quantitative Expertise

Advertising Age, April 7, 2008 — If Nielsen can't measure its way to continued dominance of an ever-shifting advertising world, perhaps it can buy its way into it. The media-measurement company today said it had agreed to purchase IAG Research, a company that measures viewer response to ads, TV shows and product placements, for $225 million.

Made to measure

CEO David Calhoun has a simple plan for Nielsen: Make gobs of money and reshape the future of marketing and media.

FORTUNE, March 1, 2008 — Under big blue letters declaring WE ARE NIELSEN, executives of the world's largest measuring company gathered in the ballroom of a resort near Fort Lauderdale for their second annual leadership retreat. Over two days in early January they trumpeted accounts won and targets achieved, and plotted Nielsen's plans for the year ahead, such as expanding its Internet ratings service into China. But a recurring theme was the company's need to improve - and fast - its spotty reputation with the clients that pay millions for its TV ratings data and retail market-share rankings.

Arbitron, Nielsen Scrap Apollo Project†

P&G Was Big Backer of Ambitious Market-Research Program

Advertising Age, February 26, 2008 — Arbitron and Nielsen Co. have pulled the plug on Apollo, one of the most ambitious, expensive and heavily hyped market-research programs in history.

Apollo aimed to determine once and for all how exposure to a wide variety of media and marketing tactics influence purchases by tracking consumers' combined media and purchasing habits in a single-source database.

Nielsen Looks Beyond TV, and Hits Roadblocks

As television watching has waned as a component of media consumption, Nielsen wants households to let it eavesdrop on its Web surfing and cellphone use.

New York Times, February 26, 2008 — Being part of a “Nielsen household” has long been a point of pride for people whose television habits are monitored by the Nielsen Company. In exchange for token compensation, these viewers know that their personal taste influences Hollywood and Madison Avenue.

But now that Nielsen wants households to let it eavesdrop on many more activities — from Web surfing to cellphone use — how far will people open their doors?

As television watching has waned as a component of media consumption, Nielsen has been trying to retool the way it collects ratings, to keep the figures relevant to the advertisers and media companies that are its clients.

In Foray Into TV, Google Is to Track Ad Audiences

Google plans to announce a partnership with Nielsen to give advertisers a better snapshot of how many people are viewing television commercials on a second-by-second basis.

New York Times, October 25, 2007 — Google, which dominates the market for advertising on the Internet, seems to be hoping to do the same thing on television.

The company is set to announce a partnership today with the Nielsen Company, the voice of authority in measuring television audiences, that will give advertisers a more vivid and accurate snapshot than ever before of how many people are viewing commercials on a second-by-second basis, and who those people are.

Cable Best at Keeping Audience Through Ad Breaks†

Still, Broadcast Networks Hold On to More than 92% of Viewers

Advertising Age, October 23, 2007 — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The first-round results of Nielsen's "C3" ratings for all broadcast and cable networks is in, and there are a few surprises lurking in all that data when one looks at how well networks performed in keeping viewers through the commercial breaks.

The Fastest-Growing Medium? Shopper Marketing†

Deloitte Study Shows In-Store Spending Is Outpacing Even the Internet

Advertising Age, September 27, 2007 — BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — The fastest-growing medium isn't the internet, but shopper marketing, where retailers and package-goods marketers are shifting hundreds of millions of dollars — doubling their expenditure in the past three years alone.

A new study finds shopper marketing has grown from 3% of the overall marketing budgets of the 19 package-goods manufacturers surveyed in 2004 to 6% this year. The manufacturers expect it to reach 8% of marketing budgets by 2010.

Overview: Cross-Media Measurement Takes Off

MediaPost Publications, August 13, 2007 — MEDIA RESEARCH FIRMS ARE PUSHING a number of initiatives to provide media planners with integrated measurements of multiple media. By painting a broader picture of media consumption--which includes different kinds of content delivery--media researchers hope to help their clients to chart the behavior of American consumers, who are proving to be increasingly elusive and fast-moving targets. Several major players--Nielsen, ABC and TNS--are recording key data that will assist present and future ad buys.