CIMM Won't Shake Up Media Measurement – Yet

Written by Steve Donohue

Thursday, September 10. 2009 at 05:25 PM EDT Post a comment

Digg   Del.icio.us   Reddit   Email This

no ratings

• Login to Rate

Looking for better ways to measure viewing on set-top boxes and Internet and mobile video platforms, 14 top TV networks and advertising companies teamed up to back the Coalition for Innovative Media Management.

While CIMM was unveiled the day after The Nielsen Co. said it wouldn't be able to track Internet viewing in households with People Meters until 2011, executives emphasized that the organization isn't looking to compete with Nielsen and other measurement firms.

Instead, they said the goal of CIMM is to foster better ways to measure how viewers are digesting content on cable and satellite TV systems and Websites containing video programming.

CIMM's founders are searching for a managing director to run the organization, and they also have written two requests for proposals (RFPs) -- one involving set-top box measurement, and a second focused on methods for multiplatform measurement for TV and Internet viewing. Look for Navic, the targeted advertising and set-top box measurement firm that Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) acquired last year, to pitch its wares to CIMM.

CIMM already has seed funding of more than $1 million. "That seven-figure commitment is for the first year. The funding will grow as membership grows," said Turner Broadcasting chief research officer Jack Wakshlag.

CIMM's founding members consist mostly of top networks and advertising firms. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is the only telecom company on board so far. Other members are CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), Discovery Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), GroupM, Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. 's Mediabrands, NBC Universal , News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), Omnicom Media Group, P&G, Starcom MediaVest Group Worldwide, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), Unilever, Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA), and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).

Executives said CIMM membership will be opened to technology vendors, and that they would even consider an application from Nielsen, if the ratings firm decides to apply.

But NBC Universal research president Alan Wurtzel and other CIMM members stressed that CIMM isn't looking to develop a commercial measurement platform that would compete with the likes of Nielsen.

"This organization is a little bit like public television. We want everyone in the industry to come in and contribute because we need their funding, but we're going to make the learning available to everyone no matter what," Wurtzel said.

Other highlights from the CIMM conference call:

• The key goal of CIMM is to find a single measurement that could track viewing on TV, the Internet, and mobile phones. "It's the single source measure that at the end of the day is what everyone would like to see, so one individual provides data for use of television/video on the Internet, and ultimately mobile. It's hard to do -- no one has done it," Wurtzel said.
• Responding to a question about antitrust concerns, CBS chief research officer David Poltrack said the attorneys at CIMM's founding companies all gave it a green light. "It has been reviewed from that perspective and we are confident that it meets the legal requirements concerning these types of activities. It has been totally vetted, and we are moving forward with the assurance that it will meet those standards," Poltrack said.
• Asked how the multiplatform measurement CIMM wants could impact media buying, GroupM managing partner Lyle Schwartz said it's too early to tell. "This is to foster innovation. To tell you it's going to change things, we don't even know what it will produce yet."