TV Audience Measurement Coalition Confirmed

A group of 14 companies has formally announced the founding of the Council for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), a consortium that will create a new TV audience measurement system, designed to challenge Nielsen's control over the marketplace.

The Financial Times first reported news of the launch last month, stating that the group is likely to be awarding contracts for measuring set-top box (STB) data and cross-platform viewers across TV and digital sources later this year.

Founding members and current participating companies include TV content providers, media agencies and advertisers including: AT&T; CBS, NBC, News Corporation, Omnicom Media Group, IPG Mediabrands, P&G, Starcom MediaVest Group Worldwide, Time Warner, Unilever, Viacom and Walt Disney.

The team says it will provide innovation in audience measurement for TV and cross-platform media, while exploring and identifying new methodologies and approaches to audience measurement.

Its initial plan is to run a series of pilot studies with independent measurement companies focusing on the current and future potential of TV measurement through STB data, and new methods for cross-platform media measurement.

'It's a new media ecosystem, yet the industry relies on old media metrics,' states Laura Desmond, Global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group. 'Finding consistent, reliable measurement for today and future realities needs to be a top priority. With CIMM we look to address the issues - from unlocking the full potential of STB data to identifying standards for assessing cross-platform performance - head on and with vigor.'

CIMM will be funded by the group's founding participants, who will hire an independent MD to oversee day-to-day operations.