Will Follow ESPN Content and Advertising Across Television, Computer and
Mobile Screens
NEW YORK, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- ESPN, Inc. and The Nielsen Company
today announced a ground-breaking collaboration to measure how consumers
use media across a variety of platforms including television, the Internet
and digital mobile devices.
With its TV network available in 93 million households and
approximately 18 million unique Web users per month, ESPN will work with
Nielsen, to develop a new model for cross-media measurement. This will
enable buyers and sellers of television advertising to understand more
completely the interaction of new digital platforms with traditional
television viewing.
"This ESPN Nielsen initiative will forge new ground in cross-media
measurement solutions, allow us to further understand user behavior and
provide valuable insight for our advertisers," said Artie Bulgrin, senior
vice president, research and sales development.
"ESPN is a true multimedia company, with a mission to serve sports fans
any time, anywhere and via any device. That makes it a great fit for our
capabilities which provide unique insights into the fast changing habits of
today's media users," said Jon Mandel, chief executive officer of
NielsenConnect, the newly formed service group that brings together
Nielsen's full range of information-gathering and insight capabilities.
"I'm particularly thrilled that ESPN is interested in learning how their
content drives advertisers' business."
The ESPN-Nielsen initiative will have three main parts:
-- It will feature the first deployment of Nielsen's TV/Internet
Convergence Panel, the new integrated sample of households being
assembled by Nielsen to measure TV and Internet use within the same
home.
-- The initiative will also link together research data from Nielsen
Mobile and other measurement sources to evaluate the cross-media usage.
-- Nielsen will also provide the opportunity for several ESPN advertisers
to link in and study insights about their advertising on ESPN
platforms.
Nielsen's TV/Internet Convergence Panel will provide the first real
insight into how people experience television and Internet, including
streaming media, in their daily lives. Panelists will have their television
viewing measured by Nielsen's People Meters and their Internet usage
measured by Nielsen//NetRatings' Internet metering technology. The sample
will be assembled from a combination of sources, including newly recruited
homes and existing TV panelists who are leaving the National People Meter
television sample. For ESPN, the panel will measure, among other things:
-- The impact of TV promotions on driving people to the Internet and of
Internet promotions driving users to watch ESPN programs.
-- The number of hours of TV and Internet usage per week, in total, and by
time of day for any specific demographic or viewer type.
-- Simultaneous media usage across various combinations, such as viewing
TV and streaming.
Also as part of the initiative, Nielsen will link its television and
Internet measurement to the ESPN Sports Poll, a syndicated tracking survey
of U.S. adults and teenagers that monitors general fan profiles, viewing
habits, event attendance and sports industry trends. This data "fusion"
will allow ESPN to analyze TV viewing and Internet usage against specific
variables from Sports Poll or a combination of variables, such as ESPN's
ratings by program among NFL fans who visit NFL.com.
To measure the impact of ESPN content on mobile devices such as cell
phones, Nielsen will also fuse its existing TV/Internet fusion product with
data from its Telephia service, which measures mobile web and mobile video
usage.
Once the fusion is complete, ESPN will be able to conduct a number of
analyses, including:
-- Measuring the unduplicated reach of ESPN's traditional television
programming, ESPN.com and ESPN mobile video.
-- Measuring the overlap across the platforms (i.e. what percent of ESPN
users use all three platforms or what percent are both TV and mobile,
etc.)
-- Being able to illustrate the demographic and market break composition
of various combinations of audiences
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with
leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information
(ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online
intelligence (Nielsen Online), mobile media (Nielsen Mobile) trade shows
and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The
privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with
headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more
information, please visit, http://www.nielsen.com.
About ESPN
ESPN, Inc. is the leading multinational, multimedia sports
entertainment company with over 50 business entities. Sports media assets
include ESPN on ABC, six domestic cable television networks, ESPN Regional
Television, ESPN International, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and other growing new
businesses including ESPN360 (Broadband), Mobile ESPN (wireless), ESPN On
Demand, ESPN Interactive and ESPN PPV. Based in Bristol, Ct., ESPN is 80
percent owned by ABC, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt
Disney Company. The Hearst Corporation holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN.
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