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UPDATES Big Media To Compete With Nielsen Ratings
Here’s the latest press release on that Big Media Orwellian move to make their own system of cross-platform measurement to rival Nielsen’s. It’s called “The Coalition For Innovative Media Measurement” (CIMM), and it’s being spear-headed by NBC. Because when you’re dead last in the network ratings, don’t change the programming. Change the ratings system:
NEW YORK – September 10, 2009 – In an effort to promote innovation and explore new, high quality ways to measure audiences across traditional and new media, a group of leading US television content providers, media agencies and advertisers are joining together in an historic initiative to create the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM).
Signaling the critical importance within the industry for such an organization, CIMM is being announced today by the following executives from all 14 founding member companies:
Jeff Bewkes, Chairman and CEO, Time Warner
George Bodenheimer, President of ESPN/ABC Sports, Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks
Nick Brien, President & CEO, Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands
Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and COO, News Corporation
Philippe Dauman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Viacom
Laura Desmond, CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group Worldwide
Dina Howell, Vice President, Global Media & Brand Operations, Procter & Gamble
Laura Klauberg, Senior Vice President, Global Media, Unilever
Esther Lee, Senior Vice President, Brand Marketing and Advertising, AT&T
Sir Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive, WPP, holding company for GroupM
Anne Sweeney, President, Disney-ABC TV Group and co-chair, Disney Media Networks
Nancy Tellem, President, CBS Paramount Network TV Entertainment Group
Page Thompson, CEO, North America, Omnicom Media Group
David M. Zaslav, President and CEO, Discovery Communications
Jeff Zucker, President and CEO, NBC UniversalCIMM will work to explore and identify new methodologies and approaches to audience measurement. The group will initiate, fund and evaluate a series of pilot studies with independent measurement companies focusing on two key areas: the current and future potential of television measurement through set-top-box data, and new methods for cross-platform media measurement. CIMM will publish all research findings to its members and make them publicly available as well.
CIMM will be funded by the group’s founding participants, who will hire an independent managing director to oversee day-to-day operations. Any US television content providers, buying agencies or advertisers that are interested in joining CIMM should contact NBC Universal Research President Alan Wurtzel for additional information.
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What’s more interesting is who is NOT on the list Google, Microsoft or any of the “new media” companies.
Unilever, Protor & Gamble, Group M will be integral to this “slam dunk” Coalition…all are fundamental pillars in regards to media measurement iniatives. Odd that AIG, GM, and the Algerian Government (all big players in this arena as well) were not included.
The sight of all these Advertising conglomerates, huddling together with the media companies should remind clients who wish to advertise with them that they’re better off creating in-house agencies.
Here’s an innovative thought, stop broadcasting crap, and you won’t have crappy ratings.
What will be “innovative” is the measuring practices, not the content creation.
How is this not against antitrust laws?
Since this is clearly an effort to control the numbers which will be used to set advertising rates in ALL MEDIA, wouldn’t you think there should be regulatory eyes watching very closely?
Ah yes, I’m sure Companies are going to take the word of the Ad Agencies and Big Media.Most of these companies are building their own internal Ad agencies, making Ogilvy and pals increasingly irrelevant.
Nikki you do know Neilsen is a sham right? The way they get their numbers is pure statistics. If TV had an actual and precise measure for ratings, you would see a spike in many low rated shows. The way the current system is operating is wrong and needed to be overhauled years ago.
Yes… those damn lying electronic boxes that only record when the TV is turned on… here’s a suggestion to CIMM why don’t you fund an innovative way to count when people are actually watching it rather than asleep or out the room, then NBC can finally get 0.0 share it deserves.
Surely technology exists that would allow cable and satellite companies to accurately measure down to the last television set how many people are watching a particular show. Surely Nielsen has spent some R&D cash on looking into this technology. Surely this technology could be incorporated into the cable/satellite boxes, and then broadcast-only sets could be measured using more traditional Nielsen methods. Surely with this kind of technology, you could protect the viewer’s privacy while getting a dead-on breakdown of demographics, or the number of minutes into a show that people started tuning out, or what individual demographic groups switched to when they changed the channel. I mean, that kind of information would be absolutely priceless for programmers. I mean, if they meter test audiences in Vegas, why would they want to have a metered audience at home?
I just can’t imagine why the networks wouldn’t want an exact, accurate count of their viewers!
A serious issue with this is that a lot of people just leave the TV on all the time, and aren’t necessarily watching it (or the ads.) How many people, and which people, are actually watching is the important information, not how many hours the TV is tuned to Fox.
This is what Neilsen’s people-meters were trying to do. Unfortunately, the actual numbers were so shockingly different from what they had previously been reporting that people flipped out, and they haven’t stopped flipping since. The article Nikke copies here is the latest bounce.
Oh just what the world needs…yet another form of ‘Hollywood Accounting’…
If any advertiser finds out their media-buying firm is using what will be phony numbers, they should immediately fire them and look into legal action. What they don’t realize is the media-buying firms are more loyal to the content providers than they are to their own clients.
Gotta love that Unilever, Proctor & Gamble are a part of the coalition. Next up…a coalition that compete’s with the FCC!
While I agree this could be another MPAA (which is by the studios, for the studios), doesn’t anyone else think the Neilsens is also flawed? Come on, who are their “viewers” that for the past 50 years have been controlling what gets on air and what gets axed? Maybe this new group will just be another way for studios to control things — but if it results, even infinitesimally, in better shows being launched or saved, it’s definitely welcome.
Neilsen has had a stranglehold over what you & I see for 50 years — I say good riddance. Who cares if this new group is just another MPAA (by the studios, for the studios). If end result is any better TV fare, then “yay.”
I don’t get why ad buyers support this, if it is another manifestation of Hollywood Accounting. Are companies, like Unilever, getting discounts on future ad spots? Insane.