Broadcasters, Advertisers Team to Study Audience Ratings

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 10, 2009 - 9:06am.

New York - A consortium of 14 broadcasters, ad agencies and advertisers announced on Thursday that they are joining forces to explore new ways to measure audiences across traditional and new media. Founding members of the Council for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) include Time Warner (NYSE: TWX); News Corp. (NYSE: NWS); Viacom (NYSE: VIA); NBC Universal (NYSE: GE); Disney-ABC (NYSE: DIS); CBS (NYSE: CBS) Paramount; Discovery (NASD: DISCA); Starcom MediaVest; Mediabrands; WPP (NASD: WPPGY); Omnicom (NYSE: OMC); Unilever (NYSE: UL); AT&T (NYSE: T); and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG).

The group intends to fund pilot studies with independent measurement companies focusing on two key areas: the current and future potential of television measurement through set-top-box data, and new methods for cross-platform media measurement.

It's expected that current ratings giant Nielsen will respond to the requests for proposals. Nielsen itself is part of the Council for Research Excellence, a similar group examining audience membership that also includes many of the same broadcasters in CIMM.

"Twenty-first century media needs 21st century measurement techniques. Existing systems are incapable of accurately measuring the media habits of our audience across today's multiplicity of platforms," said NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker.

"The ability to accurately measure the impact of our investments in this evolving and fragmented media landscape is critical for informing business decisions," added Unilever senior vice president Laura Klauberg.

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