Nielsen and IMMI Deliver OoH TV Metrics

In the US, Nielsen and Integrated Media Measurement Inc (IMMI) have begun delivering the first daily all-electronic national TV ratings for viewing outside the home.

In April 2007 the firms announced a partnership to detect and record TV screens in out-of-home (OoH) locations such as offices, fitness clubs, hotels and bars.

IMMI asks panel members to carry a mobile phone, which is equipped with a technology that creates digital signatures of all the audio media (TV, radio and movies) to which it has been exposed. IMMI then matches these with audio signatures collected by IMMI from actual telecasts with the results then transmitted to IMMI computer servers for reporting.

The firm's President and CEO Tom Zito says that as viewers are increasingly consuming media in locations outside their homes, researchers need to factor in audience exposure 'from all directions'.

Nielsen is offering the national service to clients as a stand-alone, separate from its National People Meter sample, which measures program ratings of viewing that takes place inside the home.

Later this year, the partners plan to deliver local OoH services in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Denver, which are the first markets in which IMMI has established panels. The six local markets each have a panel of approximately 500 people, totaling 3,000 participants.

Sample for the national service comprises participants from the local services, plus an additional 1,700 national panelists, and is weighted to be representative of the entire US.

'Until now, no one has been able to provide on-going 24/7 national measurement of TV viewing that takes place outside the home,' stated Sara Erichson, Nielsen's EVP of Media Client Services. 'Working with IMMI, Nielsen can now capture OoH viewing and provide a more complete picture of how people are watching television.'

Initial data has shown that between June 30 and August 10, the program with the highest number of OoH viewers was the Olympics Opening Ceremony on NBC, with 1.1 million viewers.

Web sites: www.immi.com and www.nielsenmedia.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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