NBC & Telemundo Sign New Audience Measurement Agreement With Nielsen.

Nielsen Media Research and NBC announced the signing of a seven-year landmark agreement for audience measurement services covering all of NBC’s national and local television businesses.

This includes the NBC Television Network, cable networks Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC, Telemundo, the 14 NBC-owned-and-operated television stations, and the 13 Telemundo television stations. It is the largest, most comprehensive agreement of its kind in the history of media research.

Also NBC has agreed to support the largest-ever expansion of Nielsen’s National People Meter Sample. When all elements of the expansion plan are complete, the effective size of the National People Meter Sample will grow from 5,000 households to nearly 10,000 homes.

“NBC has worked with Nielsen in a constructive partnership since the very beginning of broadcasting,” said Bob Wright, Vice Chairman of General Electric and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NBC. “This agreement takes our collaboration to a higher level and puts NBC at the center of the process, assuring quality audience measurement for all of our television services.”

“This is about value, continuity and quality assurance,” said Alan Wurtzel, President, Research and Media Development for NBC. “With NBC’s expanded portfolio of broadcast and cable properties, we wanted to ensure a consistent standard of research throughout all of our business units. This agreement accomplishes that goal.”

Susan D. Whiting, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nielsen Media Research, said, “this landmark agreement reflects our commitment to everyone at NBC, first to deliver the highest quality estimates to their businesses every day; and second, that we have invested in the right technology, the right methodology, the right partnerships, and the right people to assure that television will always be the best measured medium of audience delivery.”

“We are delighted that Nielsen was able to respond to NBC’s need for a more holistic approach to their businesses,” added Whiting. “Highly diversified media companies require comprehensive access to a broad spectrum of audience research information. Limitations on how individual business units may use vital information can impede growth.”

The agreement also builds on a strong engineering foundation between the two companies. NBC has agreed to implement Nielsen’s digital encoding system to be used in Nielsen’s new metering system for producing television ratings. The new Active/Passive metering system will be introduced in 2004. In sample homes, the A/P Meter will identify programs, stations and networks from electronic codes embedded in programs at the distribution source. NBC and Nielsen engineers will work closely together as new digital distribution systems come to the market.