Nielsen and IMMI suspend out-of-home TV ratings service

US-- Nielsen and Integrated Media Measurement Inc (IMMI) have suspended their joint out-of-home TV audience measurement service, citing “limited economic support” in the current climate.

The service, which was first touted in early 2007, has been providing ratings on TV viewing in locations such as bars, gyms and hotels since April of this year. Its last report will be for the period through to 9 November.

In a client note, Nielsen said: “We are proud of the work we have done with IMMI and believe our out-of-home measurement has provided valuable insight into the relationship between in-home and out-of-home viewing.

“Despite that, it has become clear that in the current climate, there is limited economic support for this new measurement service. As such, we believe it is prudent to suspend the out-of-home report at this time.”

Sports broadcaster ESPN and Zenith Media were the only two known clients of the service, which utilised panels of around 500 people in six major local markets – New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Denver – plus an additional 1,700 panellists spread throughout the rest of the country.

Each panellist was equipped with a mobile phone, on which was installed special software to detect audio signatures in TV broadcasts.

All this made it a “rather costly service”, a Nielsen spokesman said. “The Nielsen IMMI service was sample-based, meaning the sample had to be maintained no matter how many clients were signed... There simply was not enough client support,” the spokesman said.

Nielsen's recently launched On Location Media service is unaffected and remains “alive and well”, the spokesman said. This service measures audiences for location-specific private video networks, with the research paid for by the media owner. Health Club TV and Airline TV, both run by IdeaCast, and Gas Station TV are among the first clients.

“We recognise that measuring the out-of-home component of television viewing is an important need for our clients,” said Nielsen. “We will continue to work on out-of-home measurement solutions, including continued efforts with IMMI.”

Author: Brian Tarran