Coalition 'Not About Competing with Nielsen'

In the US, the newly formed Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) has attempted to clarify its goals in a conference call, stressing that rather than creating a competitor for Nielsen Media Research, it wants to fund new research into cross-platform and TV set-top box measurement.

The coalition consists of 14 TV networks, major advertisers and media agencies including the likes of AT&T, CBS, NBC, P&G, News Corporation, Time Warner and Walt Disney. NBC Universal Research Head Alan Wurtzel, a key member of the steering group, stressed that the idea is not to go head-to-head with Nielsen or establish a new currency: 'there are many companies that are providing set-top box data... [and] many companies trying to figure out cross-platform... The organization's goal and objective is much, much broader than dealing with Nielsen... It's about establishing technology and methodology that can be helpful to everyone.'

The fourteen are each said to have commited at least $1m dollars to fund research initiatives. Next, the coalition will look next to hire an executive director, and to send out RFPs to vendors for set-top box measurement and cross-platform media measurement, for action in the fourth quarter of the year. Nielsen will be free to respond to its RFPs, and to apply for membership of the coalition.

Previous statements by the coalition, whose establishment was first reported last month, have been seen as critical of Nielsen, the major provider of TV ratings services in the US and much of the world, and the latest statements will leave some still unclear as to the motivation behind it. Earlier this week as it announced its formal establishment, the group said current methods lacked innovation and Laura Desmond, Global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group said the industry 'relied on old media metrics'. Nielsen has a number of major programs in place to address the problem of cross-platform measurement, and last month responded to rumours of the coalition's formation by underlining that three screen measurement was 'at the center of its strategy'.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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