Nielsen and CIMM to Collaborate on Innovation

Nielsen and the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) have formed an 'Innovation Committee' to develop and test potential new approaches to mobile television audience measurement for Nielsen's mTAM initiative.

The partners will study both passive and active applications on mobile phones, tablets and web sites, to mirror individuals' technology use and improve coverage of 'younger adults'. Nielsen is currently testing a smartphone / tablet app to record television viewing information, as well as a web site equivalent.

The initial focus is on local media markets, where relatively small sample sizes can affect the consistency of results.

The partners say the exercise - which at first will focus on early-stage concept-testing (POC) for multi-platform solutions - will help to steer mTAM (mobile Television Audience Measurement) and ensure that Nielsen's measurement services 'provide robust results and meet the evolving needs of the television marketplace'.

Nielsen Chief Methodologist Michael Link comments: 'The multi-access point approach allows people to enter information throughout their day on whichever type of device they choose or is readily at hand in the moment. In that way, we increase the number of people who can participate and expect to improve compliance to ensure we are capturing all of their viewing.'

CIMM, which was founded three years ago by a consortium of TV content providers, media agencies and advertisers, and had initially to play down rumours that its role was 'to create a competitor for Nielsen Media Research', has already worked with Arbitron and comScore, and recently partnered with Symphony Advanced Media (SAM) to test new approaches to measuring cross-platform ad effectiveness.

Web sites are at www.cimm-us.org and 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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