Nielsen Media Research, a unit of VNU, N.V., today announced that it will provide integrated, all-electronic ratings for television regardless of the platform on which it is viewed. Under the Company’s Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) initiative, Nielsen will develop and deploy technology to measure the new ways consumers are watching television, such as on the Internet, outside the home, and via cell phones, iPods and other personal, mobile devices.

Developed in close consultation with clients, A2/M2 reflects the transformation of the television industry into a multi-platform business. Key components include:

• A continued focus on providing the most accurate measurement of in-home television viewing through state-of-the-art Active/Passive (A/P) metering technology
• Measurement of online streaming video as well as the addition of Internet measurement in Nielsen’s People Meter samples
• The addition of Out-of-Home measurement in Nielsen’s People Meter samples
• The introduction of electronic measurement in all local markets, targeted for 2011
• The development of new meters to measure video viewed on portable media devices
• The creation of new research for measuring viewer “engagement” in TV programming

These initiatives build on the significant progress Nielsen has made in modernizing media measurement for the 21st Century, such as launching the Active/Passive meter, which serves as the basis for measuring all time-shifted and place-shifted viewing; introducing electronic Local People Meters into the top 10 local markets; measuring DVR and VOD viewing; and securing a majority stake in Nielsen//NetRatings (NetRatings, Inc.), the leading Internet measurement company.

“As digital distribution of television transforms the way our clients do business, Nielsen is keeping pace with new ways of measuring TV wherever it is viewed,” said Susan D. Whiting, president and chief executive officer of Nielsen Media Research. “With continued client direction, patented technologies, internal focus on speed and innovation and unrivalled understanding of how people watch television, Nielsen is uniquely positioned to anticipate and respond to the industry’s evolution.”

“A2/M2 is the result of extensive consultation with clients, who told us clearly that we should ‘follow the video’ and deliver integrated measurement of all television-like content regardless of platform,” Whiting continued. “A2/M2 recognizes that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to measuring television, while launching the most extensive research and testing program in the company's history. We thank our clients for the time they spent helping us develop this initiative and look forward to their continued collaboration during its implementation."

To accelerate the process of bringing new systems to market, Nielsen has created on-going test panels of households recruited and managed in the same way as its existing currency samples. This will include a test panel of households leaving Nielsen’s currency samples at the conclusion of their maximum two-year tenure. This testing will enable Nielsen to quickly answer many fundamental methodological questions prior to extensive field testing, thus speeding the development and introduction of new services.

Integrating Television and Internet Measurement
The technological and economic barriers that have traditionally divided the media are starting to come down, and nowhere is this more evident than in the relationship between television and the Internet.

As more and more streaming video content, including traditional television programming, becomes available online, content providers need to measure this viewing and understands how it complements their traditional television programming. To help media clients measure their growing online presence, Nielsen Media Research and its sister company NetRatings, provider of the Nielsen//NetRatings service, will introduce a number of unique integrated measurement services:

• Nielsen//NetRatings will establish the industry’s most comprehensive system for tracking and reporting digital audio and video delivered via the Internet. Nielsen//NetRatings will integrate data from its SiteCensus service, which uses proprietary “ping back” technology to provide highly accurate and granular measurement of what is delivered online, with demographic data from its representative metered panels of Internet users. Local broadcast stations and cable operators will be able to take advantage of Nielsen//NetRatings’ SiteCensus Market Intelligence service, which offers syndicated Internet audience measurement data.
• Nielsen will add Internet television measurement to its People Meter samples next year, creating a single panel to measure the relationship among TV viewing, web site usage and streaming video consumption. Under the plan, this summer Nielsen will install and test software meters, including Nielsen//NetRatings’ patented metering technology, on the personal computers and laptops of People Meter panelists exiting our panels, with the goal of fully deploying them during the 2007-2008 broadcast season. Nielsen will use the testing to identify the potential impact of Internet measurement on panel-quality metrics.
• As a springboard to the introduction of this single-sample Internet/television panel, beginning this summer Nielsen and Nielsen//NetRatings will offer “fused” data, combining the viewing results from matching respondents in their television and Internet panels. This will make it possible to report the relationship between television and Internet consumption, and to provide combined reporting of viewership of broadcast or cable networks and usage of their web sites. This fused data will be an important planning tool to allow agencies and advertisers to optimize combined TV/Internet campaigns.
  
  “NetRatings has a long history of leadership and innovation in Internet measurement and we are pleased to expand our partnership with Nielsen Media Research to develop the industry’s most advanced measurement of Internet television,” said William Pulver, president and chief executive officer, NetRatings, Inc. “By bringing together the best assets of our two companies, we will offer media and advertising clients a unique service for navigating the rapid convergence of TV and online media.”

Measuring Television Outside the Home
Because consumers increasingly are watching traditional television away from home, including at work, in bars, restaurants, hotels and airports, Nielsen is developing and testing new personal meters to measure this viewing. Nielsen expects to introduce these meters into its National and Local People Meter panels by the end of 2008 and eventually add out-of-home viewing into its national and local television currencies.

Starting this fall and continuing into the beginning of 2007, Nielsen will conduct a preliminary external test of two personal meters, called “Go Meters,” designed to capture out-of-home viewing by collecting audio signatures. One device places metering technology in cell phones and the other is a customized meter that resembles an MP3 player. Nielsen will likely offer panelists several options based on their experiences and preferences.

Expanding Electronic Measurement
Given the hundreds of television channels available to consumers and the growing popularity of digital services such as video on demand (VOD) and digital video recorders (DVRs), Nielsen has in recent years been engaged in an extended dialogue with clients about how to bring improved electronic measurement to local markets.

Based on these discussions, Nielsen is committed to bringing electronic measurement to its local-market services - both by adding electronic persons measurement to existing Set-Meter markets and by converting Diary-only markets to electronic measurement. It will do so through the following initiatives:

• Nielsen will expand Local People Meter (LPM) service beyond the 10 largest local television markets to the next 15 largest markets. These rollouts will begin when they are launched in Houston, Seattle and Tampa in October 2007. At the end of the roll-out process, local samples representing nearly half of the U.S. population would be measured by LPMs.
• For existing Set-Meter markets in markets sizes 26 to 60, Nielsen will introduce the A/P 3.0, a variation of the Active/Passive meter that will not need to be wired directly into the TV set. This meter is designed to be placed next to the television, where it will accurately collect the required TV on/off and program information. Information on who is watching the program will be collected through the same People Meter technology used in National and Local People Meters, which will be integrated into the A/P 3.0 design. Pending the results of large-scale field tests, Nielsen plans to begin introducing these meters into remaining Set Meter markets in 2008.
• For medium-size, current Diary-only markets (approximately market size 61 to 125), Nielsen proposes to mail battery-powered meters to sample homes, initially supplementing them with simple viewing logs. The meters would be placed near televisions to capture all programming on the set, requiring household members to record only what they watched. At the end of the survey period, participants would mail back the meters and logs. Pending sufficient and successful test results by mid-2007, Nielsen will decide whether to proceed with this approach.
• For smaller markets currently served only by the paper Diary, Nielsen will aggressively pursue a full electronic measurement plan and investigate a number of possible electronic solutions, including set-top box data and Internet Diaries. Nielsen understands the technological and financial challenges of providing electronic measurement in every market and has set a target to reach this goal by 2011.
  
  
• Nielsen will work on a parallel track to develop and test passive persons measurement, including wearable personal tags that let meters know when viewers are in direct line of sight of their TV sets. If these tests prove effective from both a quality and economic perspective, tags could conceivably replace button-pushing in People Meter homes. This will require extensive methodological and field testing before such a decision can be made.

Tracking Portable Media Devices
Nielsen is building the foundation to measure television content that is migrating to new portable media platforms – including cell phones, iPod, portable game players and handheld computers – in ways that clients can evaluate and monetize.

The Company is continuing engineering work to create “Solo Meters” that can be used with any portable media system. For platforms that use a wireless, Bluetooth connection, Nielsen is developing a very small wireless meter that would passively listen to communication between mated devices. For systems that are wired, Nielsen is building a diminutive “in-line” meter that would be physically inserted between the device and its earphones.

Both metering solutions would be “device-neutral” to work with a wide variety of personal media platforms without having to be customized for specific devices. They also would identify viewing by collecting audio signatures. Development of the systems starts this summer and functional prototypes would be available within six to 12 months, so that testing could begin by the latter part of next year.

As Nielsen pursues these initiatives, it also is implementing a comprehensive research plan to track consumer adoption and usage of a wide array of portable media devices, including the creation of a 400-person panel of iPod users by the end of 2006.

Measuring Engagement
To help address the industry’s desire to adopt a measure of engagement for television, Nielsen is conducting a detailed test to evaluate the strength of intrinsic and extrinsic measurements.

The pilot program, which also will help lay the groundwork for possible engagement metrics, is being undertaken in consultation with a 20-member client committee representing broadcast and cable networks, syndicators and agencies.

National and Local People Meter households that are leaving the panel will be asked to maintain the meters for an additional six weeks, during which time they will participate in telephone surveys designed to measure commercial recall and qualitative engagement factors for the programs they watch.

The test will evaluate the strength of behavioral measures in predicting commercial recall, an important attribute in advertising strategy.

Nielsen expects to publish the results of the survey in the fall, at which time it will decide on future plans, including additional phases of research or the launch of a specific engagement product.