Nielsen to Adopt Portfolio Strategy for TV Measurement

Nielsen to Adopt Portfolio Strategy for TV Measurement

Will Not Enter Joint Venture with Arbitron to Commercially Deploy PPM for Media Ratings

Nielsen to Proceed with Project Apollo Pilot

NEW YORK, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Nielsen Media Research, the world's leading television audience measurement service, today said it will adopt a portfolio strategy to measure television and has decided not to enter into a joint venture with Arbitron to commercially deploy Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) as the primary measurement tool for media ratings currency.

This decision will have no impact on Nielsen's plan to proceed with Project Apollo, the market research joint venture between Nielsen and Arbitron. Also, Nielsen suggested to Arbitron that they discuss Nielsen's potential licensing of the PPM to measure television viewing outside the home and Arbitron expressed interest in that suggestion.

Nielsen, following extensive consultation with its clients to assess their priorities, will communicate a plan within 90 days for providing more accurate and complete measurement of television ratings.

Nielsen's strategy builds on a number of initiatives introduced in recent years that enhance the accuracy of TV ratings, including the introduction of Local People Meters, the measurement of "time-shifted" viewing with DVRs and Video on Demand, and the upcoming expansion of the national sample to include college students living outside the home.

Taking advantage of recent advances in engineering, software and metering technology, Nielsen is committed to a portfolio strategy that will meet the diverse needs and financial abilities of the many television markets it serves. Nielsen's strategy reflects the following core principles:

-- Affordable electronic alternatives to the paper diary
-- Expanded electronic measurement of television viewing inside the home,
including set top box data.
-- Electronic measurement of television viewing outside the home
-- Measuring TV usage that occurs in connection with the Internet
-- Measurement solutions for mobile media (e.g., cell phones and video
iPods)

"Our clients clearly want a 21st Century solution that is accurate, affordable, and adaptable to all forms of video-based media," said Susan Whiting, President and CEO of Nielsen Media Research. "They have, in effect, told us to 'follow the video' as it moves to new platforms, including time- shifted systems, the Internet, cell phones and other mobile devices. At the same time, it is essential that we maintain the highest quality standards for measuring traditional television inside the home, which continues to provide the vast majority of television viewing."

"Nielsen will draw on the remarkable technological advances of the last few years to provide a portfolio of services that will expand electronic measurement across all video platforms," Ms. Whiting continued. "The dramatic growth in digital television, combined with new emerging business models, has changed the way all of us need to approach television measurement and Nielsen will remain in the forefront of that change."

Nielsen Declines JV Option for PPM

Arbitron began developing its PPM technology in the early 1990's to measure audio signals from radio. In 2000, Nielsen Media Research and Arbitron signed an agreement under which Nielsen held an option to form a joint venture for the commercial deployment of PPMs, including their potential use for measuring television ratings. Since then, Nielsen has invested millions of dollars on research to determine the viability of the PPM system.

"We recognize the appeal of a portable, single source measurement tool," said Whiting. "While it may offer considerable benefits for radio research, we believe that a one-size-fits-all measurement system is not the approach for a currency in today's complex television markets."

After more than five years of evaluating, testing and investing in the PPM system, in an environment of explosive change in TV technology and services, Nielsen reached the following opinions about the system:

1. Because the PPM's exposure-based definition of "audience" produced
larger and still unexplained television viewership, Nielsen believes
that the marketplace will require a clearer explanation for the
differences.

2. In Nielsen's opinion, the PPM system would be more expensive than the
methodologies it would replace, with the joint venture requiring the
television industry to bear most of the costs and effectively subsidize
radio. Nielsen believes that to improve sample quality to the level its
clients have said is necessary for television currency, it will be
necessary to further increase payments to sample participants and hire
more field representatives to recruit households in person, none of
which had been anticipated when the joint venture was first conceived.

Project Apollo

Nielsen's decision not to proceed with Arbitron in the joint venture will not affect its collaboration with Arbitron on "Project Apollo," a national marketing research service which would collect multi-media and purchase information from a common sample of consumers.

On May 2, 2005, Arbitron and VNU (Nielsen's parent company) announced that they would jointly deploy a pilot panel as a demonstration of the "Project Apollo" commercial service. Individuals in the panel carry a PPM to detect exposure to media, while the same individuals' product purchasing are being tracked by ACNielsen's Homescan technology.

Nielsen said that the quality threshold required for market research is very different from the thresholds demanded of a television "currency" service and that it believes the PPM offers potential for market research applications.

About Nielsen Media Research

Nielsen Media Research is the world's leading provider of television audience measurement and advertising information services. In the United States, Nielsen's National People Meter service provides audience estimates for all national program sources, including broadcast networks, cable networks, Spanish language networks, and national syndicators. Local ratings estimates are produced for television stations, regional cable networks, MSOs, cable interconnects, and Spanish language stations in each of the 210 television markets in the U.S., including electronic metered service in 56 markets.

Nielsen Media Research is part of VNU Media Measurement & Information, a global leader in information services for the media and entertainment industries. The group serves the information and marketing needs of television and radio broadcasters, advertisers, agencies, media planners, music companies, publishers, motion-picture studios, distributors and exhibitors, and the Internet industry. VNU is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media measurement and information (Nielsen Media Research) and business information (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Computing, Intermediair). VNU is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. The company employs 38,000 people. Total revenues amounted to EUR 3.8 billion in 2004. VNU is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. For more information, please visit the VNU website at http://www.vnu.com/

Source: Nielsen Media Research

CONTACT: Jack Loftus, +1-646-654-8360, for Nielsen Media Research

Web site: http://www.nielsenmedia.com/
http://www.vnu.com/

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