In an effort to expand its markets beyond proprietary in-home devices and mail-in diaries used to measure audience viewing of traditional network TV, the Nielsen Co. on Monday announced DigitalPlus, a new audience data service based on info from set-top boxes (STB).
The offering is part of an ongoing evolution of the audience-measurement company, as well as part of the firm’s consolidation of initiatives involving digital television STB data.
Nielsen has by itself, or with partners, created a service to get a handle on VoD and other non-traditional TV viewing means. Most recently, Nielsen agreed to merge with NetRatings Inc., a $327 million deal in which it bought the remaining shares in the firm.
The company said DigitalPlus will work with data from unspecified STBs used by cable system operators (MSOs) and satellite providers to create new insights and services for clients by integrating set-top box data with other Nielsen information.
DigitalPlus will draw upon the resources and information assets of numerous Nielsen businesses including the television measurement services of Nielsen Media Research, commercial activity data from Nielsen Monitor Plus, retail and scanning information from A.C. Nielsen and the modeling and forecasting capabilities of Claritas, Spectra and BASES.
Initially, Nielsen DigitalPlus will focus on several high-potential client initiatives:
o Exploring how set-top box data can contribute to Nielsen’s Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement goal of bringing electronic measurement to all local television markets.
o Providing measurement of advanced advertising applications such as interactive, targeted advertising.
o Bringing insights on advertising effectiveness through very granular reporting of commercial activity.
o Providing analytics to support MSO customer relationship management (CRM) by combining television viewing data with other data sets to provide new insights to MSOs and satellite providers about their subscribers’ activity.
“As the industry begins to analyze and use the vast amount of information available through these devices, Nielsen will work with clients to develop comprehensive solutions to this new frontier of measurement,” said Jed Meyer, senior vice-president of DigitalPlus.
The Nielsen Co. www.nielsen.com
