Arbitron & Nielsen ‘Project Apollo’ moves forward.

Arbitron Inc. and The Nielsen Company announced that they have signed an agreement that will govern completion of development and testing of the ‘Project Apollo’ marketing research service and the expansion of the pilot panel to a full national service if the test results meet expectations and generate marketplace support. The parties have formed a jointly-owned limited liability company to continue pursuit of the project.

The proposed ‘Project Apollo’ service would use the Arbitron Portable People MeterTM system, ACNielsen Homescan technology and other technologies to provide advertisers with a better understanding of the connection between consumer exposure to advertising on multiple media and their shopping/purchase behavior.

“By making it possible to link the Arbitron Portable People Meter system with ACNielsen Homescan technology, this agreement between Arbitron and The Nielsen Company will help make real the industry’s long standing dream of a true, ‘single-source’ consumer research service,” said Steve Morris, president and chief executive officer, Arbitron Inc.

Said Susan Whiting, executive vice president of The Nielsen Company and chairman/CEO of Nielsen Media Research: “During the past eighteen months, our two companies planned, built and have been operating a 5,000 household pilot panel for ‘Project Apollo’ that has been well received by the seven charter advertisers who are helping us develop the service. Together, our companies and our charter supporters in the advertising industry will work to make ‘Project Apollo’ the most advanced marketing research service of its kind.”

Nielsen and Arbitron announced an earlier agreement in May 2005 that allowed the two companies to share the costs of the deployment of a pilot panel for the ‘Project Apollo’ service.