DIRECTV and TNS Unveil New Audience Measurement Service

NEW YORK, January 31: DIRECTV
and TNS Media Research are developing a national audience measurement panel of
100,000 subscribers to the satellite platform.

TNS DIRECTView is being
hailed as the largest U.S. national audience measurement panel ever. TNS Media
Research will measure the total viewing, including the live and time-shifted
(DVR) viewing of programs and commercials at a second-by-second interval, of
100,000 representative households within DIRECTV’s national footprint of more
than 16 million customers.

“By working with TNS Media
Research, our goal is to develop a panel capability that will provide important
insights across our advertising platform,” said Eric Shanks, the executive VP
of DIRECTV Entertainment. “These insights will in turn provide our advertisers
and programming partners an unparalleled level of measurement accuracy and
accountability when partnering with DIRECTV.”

TNS Media Research
established its relationship with DIRECTV last year when it launched audience
measurement services focused on the company’s interactive subscriber
households. “Over the past 18 months DIRECTV and TNS have built a solid
partnership and today we are providing in-depth analyses and reporting services
in support of their advanced programming and advertising platform,” said George
Shababb, the COO of TNS Media Research. “Looking ahead we are excited to be
building on our excellent relationship with DIRECTV and creating a platform to
take audience measurement to the next level in the U.S.”

In addition, TNS Media
Research will be marketing the national panel. Through InfoSys, TNS Media
Research will offer subscription services that will allow clients to directly
access data to provide analyses of national viewing patterns.

—By Mansha Daswani