I was a little concerned when I read some of the articles about Nielsen suspending their Out of Home research division this week. So I was relieved to see this letter in my inbox from Suzanne Alecia OVAB President, clarifying the situation:
“There has been a lot of conversation and confusion this week on the recent news that Nielsen was discontinuing their out-of-home service because of the lack of interest in the OOH marketplace from their clients.
I have had extensive conversations with Paul Lindstrom at Nielsen and we’re working on making some clarifications with the press. In the meantime, I wanted to make sure that you had the background so that as you get questions (and I know many of you have), you can set the record straight.
The service that Nielsen provided, in concert with a technology firm IMMI, was designed to measure OOH audiences to regular broadcast and cable programming. Since developing the service, only two clients subscribed to it and so the decision was made to suspend it. While this service may have ceased for now, Nielsen is still very much committed to out-of-home research through their On Location Media service. The difference between the two is the former measured only out of home viewership to broadcast and cable TV shows. Nielsen On Location Media continues to deliver viewership data for place based networks in all sorts of venues like gyms, gas stations, sports arenas, etc. and does so for a number of OVAB member networks. That service is very much alive and well.
Nielsen is a member and strong supporter of OVAB and our missions.”
For more information, here is press release defining the future plans and commitments for Nielsen to work with the networks.
