Case Study 4 - Nielsen Media - Compiled by: Dylan

The Nielsen Company 

Global Headquarters

770 Broadway
New York, NY 10003-9595
United States

NATURE OF WORK:

Founded in 1923 The Nielsen Company specializes in marketing and advertising research for media outlets in regards to who their viewers are so they can have a better understanding of the market they are trying to reach. They are the premeire ratings and research company. The 8 pillars of their business model, titled the Nielsen code and listed on their website and still practiced today are Impartiality, Thoroughness, Accuracy, Integrity, Economy, Price, Deleivery, and Serivce. Since they cover all mediums and the company is a global giant this case study will just focus on Nielsen TV Media Research which is the section of the company that measures television ratings. They are extremely important to the world of ad sales today. Networks sell shows based on estimated ratings and Nielsen is the third party between seller and buyer that records the actual ratings. Nielsend specializes in electronic meters either their TV meters or their people meters and they still have people keep diaries of what they watch to get more of a personal record. Nielsen has clearly set the standard for research innovation. As stated on their website they have compiled and created integrated databases and market-defining methodologies to provide the most meaningful view of what consumers watch and buy. Recent revenue reports show Nielsen generating $4.8 Billion (2009)

NIELSEN CLIENTS:

The Nielsen Company records having over 20,000 clients world wide so for the sake of space I will list some major media companies that do business with Nielsen Media Research:

Comcast

Crown Media

DirecTV

Discovery Communications

Liberty Media

News Corporation

NBC Universal

Rainbow Media

Scripps Networks

Time Warner

Tribune Company

Turner Broadcasting

Univision

Viacom

Walt Disney Corporation

NIELSEN PROJECTS:

Currently working on C+7 study. Since DVR and TIVO were introduced to television, playback and delayed audiences have become a sticky subject for a networks ratings  and advertisers wanted ot make sure their ads were not being skipped over. C3 ratings exist today which measure viewing from the premiere day plus 3 days after. Some networks have shown growth in audience over the 3 days. Aa study is taking place now to see what numbers will return if Nielsen measures plus 7 days from the premiere. Advertisers may not like the idea of their spot being seen seven days after air since some,times a spot is time sensitive promoting a certain sale date at a department store or a movie release. It will be interesting to see what the results show and how it may be accepted in the research and sales world.

Another recent project was researching the rise in age of viewers for English language broadcast networks and what that means for the broadcast ad sales landscape. Today the median age of the four major broadcast networks CBS, NBC, FOX and ABC are growing faster than the average median age of the population. The study shows that each of the four networks except for FOX has a median age of 50 or over. The age of 50 comes into play for the networks since they most commonly sell advertising based on the adults 18-49 demographic, the most coveted by advertisers.

Nielsen measures everything - below are two examples of recent studies that vary from the Royal wedding to an in depth look at the entire media universe today.

The Nielsen website also highlights recent projects that they have worked on for retail advertisers such as:

Unilver

Nestle

Kimberly Clark

Clorox

Best Buy