CIMM was formed last month by a group of 14 major advertisers, TV content providers and media agencies, claiming that it was looking to “promote innovation in audience measurement”, but insisting that it was not trying to usurp the established ratings provider, Nielsen.

The coalition’s first two RFPs focus on set-top box (STB) data and cross-platform studies. CIMM said it is looking for agencies to provide “three to six months of actual STB data, to be used for evaluation (not sales) purposes”, and to address a range of questions about the methodology, such as how a company would deal with a home that does not have a set-top box.

On the cross-platform study, CIMM said it is looking for “a pilot study producing real data that reflects exposure of specific video sources on television, the internet and mobile media”.

Agencies submitting proposals for either category are invited to show a timeline of how they would plan to develop measurements in each sector.

CIMM said: “As buyers and sellers of advertising-supported media, we are deeply concerned that, despite the efforts of some research suppliers, media measurement is not keeping pace with urgent business needs… We want to be clear that we are not only looking for better or more robust versions of current media metrics. We need a clear path toward the results-based metrics that are clearly, and rightfully, being demanded by advertisers.”

More details on the RFPs can be found here.