Disney/ABC & Nielsen to Measure Consumer iPad Behavior

BURBANK/NEW YORK: The Disney/ABC Television Group’s ABC Research team is aligning with Nielsen in an effort to gain a better of understanding of how people use their iPads for video consumption and other activities.

ABC Research commissioned Nielsen to build a proprietary, opt-in metered iPad panel to aggregate and measure video consumption, app usage and other activities over the course of a year. Around 200 respondents have been asked to download the meter, which will measure reach, duration, frequency and page viewers of the iPad apps and web usage. The study seeks to offer the first view of non-self-reported data, but rather actual behavior, along with demographic trends and insights. Charles Kennedy, ABC’s senior VP of research, will provide some preliminary results of the study at the Advertiser Research Foundation’s re:Think conference.

“We have been actively studying consumer tablet usage through our own data for two years, and believe Nielsen’s proprietary technology has the potential to deliver unprecedented additional details about consumer viewing patterns,” said Peter Seymour, the executive VP of strategy and research for Disney Media Networks. “This study will help us— and ultimately the entire industry— to better understand our consumers, the complete tablet environment and the role our content plays on this fast growing and popular device.”

“With our unique metering capabilities, this work with ABC represents a significant step forward in understanding how consumers are using and bringing the iPad into their day-to-day,” added Cheryl Idell, the executive VP of Nielsen. “The insight gleaned from this study, using these metering capabilities, is an example of how we meet our commitment to deliver cross-platform understanding to the industry and provide broader understanding of consumers.”