Market research company ACNielsen Corp. and NetRatings Inc.formed a joint venture to
launch a global service for tracking audiences, advertising and user activity
on the Internet.
The new service, to be known as ACNielsen eRatings.com, will be marketed to
site publishers, media buyers, marketers and advertisers under the Nielsen//NetRatings brand.
The venture will cover Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East
and Africa, and will begin tracking Internet audiences and advertising by the
end of the first quarter next year, the companies said.
ACNielsen has an 80
percent stake in the business, with NetRatings owning the remainder.
In addition, ACNielsen will purchase a 10 percent stake in NetRatings for
$12.5 million, and Michael P. Connors, ACNielsen’s vice chairman, will be
appointed to the NetRatings board of directors.
“There is a clear and immediate need for a global industry standard to
measure audience behavior and advertising on the Internet, and this venture
will provide that standard for clients,” said Nicholas L. Trivisonno,
chairman and chief executive officer of ACNielsen.
“NetRatings’ superior technology, combined with ACNielsen’s unmatched market
coverage and research expertise, enables us to offer the first comprehensive,
global view of both traditional media and Internet audiences,” said David J.
Toth, president and chief executive officer of NetRatings.
Last year, NetRatings formed a strategic alliance with Nielsen Media Research Inc. to create
Nielsen//NetRatings, the Internet audience measurement service that covers
the United States and Canada. That service now has 140 clients.
ACNielsen provides global television and radio audience ratings, advertising
expenditure measurement, print readership services and custom media research.
ACNielsen will initially introduce the Nielsen//NetRatings service in the
United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with
additional markets coming online thereafter. By the end of 2001, the company
said the service is expected to cover more than 30 countries and about 90 percent of
the world’s Internet audience.
ACNielsen said it plans to spend about $50 million over the next two years to
roll out the service. Nielsen Media Research shares a common heritage with
the ACNielsen Co.
The companies split up in 1996 as part of a strategic
restructuring. Before that, both companies had been part of A.C. Nielsen,
which was founded in 1923.
