Numbers count. That’s the message a consortium of media companies and marketers are sending to their old buddy, Nielsen Media Research.
Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says:
…the attempt to establish a new measurement of video audiences as they splinter off TV to the Internet and mobile devices could be announced as soon as next month.
No one involved is talking on the record, but the Financial Times reported Friday that NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp., Viacom, CBS Corp., Discovery and Walt Disney Co. are participating, as are advertisers Procter & Gamble, AT&T and Unilever and agencies GroupM and Starcom MediaVest Group.
About $70 billion or so is spent annually on TV advertising in this country — or at least has been, as some predict a double-digit drop, in part because of the economy — so Nielsen’s clients have reason to want to make sure they’re getting the best data available and at the best available cost, especially with viewing and advertising shifting online.
We live in a three screen world today–TV, Web and Mobile. It’s an historic development in the media business, and the shakeout has already created opportunity and wealth for some savvy early movers like Google. But clearly, there’s room–and in this case, a pressing need–for more innovation.
