Nielsen to Launch Out-of-Home TV Ratings Measurement Service

NEW YORK/SAN MATEO, April
13: Beginning this September, the Nielsen Company and Integrated Media
Measurement Inc. (IMMI), the developer of an integrated media measurement
system, will launch a co-branded service that will provide the industry’s first
ongoing audience estimates of television viewing that occurs outside of the
home.

This service will mark the
first time that Nielsen will offer ongoing audience estimates of television
viewing in out-of-home locations such as offices, fitness clubs, hotels and
bars. This new service builds on Nielsen's Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement
(A2/M2) initiative, which seeks to measure television viewing on every platform
where it is available. It will be offered to clients as a stand-alone service,
and will be separate from Nielsen's current in-home, national and local
television ratings services.

"Through our A2/M2
initiative we are committed to 'following the video' wherever it goes and
measuring out-of-home viewing is a critical component of that commitment,"
said Sara Erichson, the EVP of client services at Nielsen Media Research North
America. "Utilizing IMMI's technology, we will provide clients with
enhanced intelligence and insight about this important activity within the
television audience."

Nielsen will offer a
national out-of-home measurement service as well as local out-of-home 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 services will
each have a participating panel of approximately 500 people, or a total of
3,000 participants. The national panel will have an effective sample size of
approximately 2,500 panelists. Sample participants will be asked to carry
mobile phones that include metering technology developed by IMMI. The phones
will collect passive digital signatures from television telecasts that IMMI
will match with audio signatures collected by IMMI from actual telecasts. The
signatures will be transmitted to IMMI computer servers for reporting.

"Our
technology and measurement system will enable Nielsen to offer its clients data
on consumer television viewing habits that was previously unavailable,"
said Tom Zito, the chairman and CEO of Integrated Media Measurement Inc.
"This co-branded product is just one example of how IMMI can help
advertisers, broadcasters and content providers make better business
decisions."