Arbitron/Nielsen Signal That Apollo Not Lost

Michael Hedges February 7, 2007

That “beep-beep-beep” you are hearing is the signal from Project Apollo, just returned from the dark side of the moon. The ambitious plan to create a state-of-the-art (or, at least technology) American media and marketing research panel has been powered up – then down – so many times since first hinted in the last century it is a wonder the battery isn’t worn out.
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Project Apollo was announced as a joint development project in May 2005 to offer a giant scale US media and marketing panel using Arbitron’s Personal People Meter (PPM) and Nielsen’s HomeScan. Procter & Gamble immediately signed up and the demonstration, which ran through the middle of last year. Other sponsors were slower in coming up with the high entry fee. Nielsen’s parent company VNU started dragging its feet.

Arbitron has a reputation for dragging others, kicking and screaming, into this century. Its PPM technology to measure radio exposure has had a decade long journey, not dissimilar to the space-race, full of fits and fights and, foremost, a huge expense in time, talent and treasure. Only in the last month has, finally, all parties signed up to the first real roll-out of electronic measurement for radio in the Houston, Texas market.

Arbitron doesn’t need Nielsen, literally. But, it does, figuratively. Image notwithstanding, media and advertising companies world-wide are hopelessly conservative. There is no other way to explain the shock and horror at the instant rise of Google, YouTube, MySpace and 61 million challengers to a domain un-challenged for generations. Media buyers – as any media salesperson knows – are absolute troglodytes. And they have an enormous appetite for data.

But Nielsen’s cache is television, panel measurement of the pulsing blue glow from millions of living rooms. Ad agencies love television; so many ways to bulk up the budgets. Media buyers love television, albeit less recently than the internet. Nielsen sells love; so close to St Valentine’s Day.

Now Nielsen isn’t just Nielsen because it’s Nielsen. The ink is barely dry on the €7.7 billion takeover of VNU, formerly Nielsen’s parent now, well, Nielsen, by Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Company (KKR) and the Carlyle Group last July. The mighty private equity “barbarians at the gate” wasted no time changing the company’s name to reflect its major asset – Nielsen. It’s something the old Dutch owners – so last century – could never do.

The new Nielsen – powered by asset managers for whom history vanishes after the last second – now needs results every second.

Forming a joint venture company  - called Apollo LLC - to develop and, perhaps, deploy Project Apollo has always been in the plan. As the press releases stress, it’s a “limited liability company.” If things don’t quite work out; well, the accountants can do lovely tricks.

Hence, Project Apollo will either fly or die but little time will be wasted with corporate delicacies. Get it on!

For the here and now, Arbitron presses on. Says Senior VP Thom Mocarsky: “Call it a ten.”

“Project Apollo is another way for us to generate a return on investment for all the money we’ve spent developing PPM. It has the potential for us to both grow and diversify our revenue base, which today is predominantly among radio broadcasters to now include the world’s biggest marketers. It enhances PPM’s reputation as the premiere portable, passive and electronic measurement system worldwide for more media than just radio. It allows advertising to enhance its role as a marketing tool by giving it solid ROI measures.By illuminating the ways even mass media can be used to target niche consumers, it is the traditional broadcast media’s best defense against commoditization.”

More than radio? Does that mean internet measurement integrated into Project Apollo?

“It’s on the plan....but that will come later.”

All of this fits with Arbitron’s long suffering plan to get ahead…of Nielsen. With the “Barbarians At The Gate” that might be sooner than later.

HELP! ftm wants your audience figures! Send to the numbers guy!

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Nielsen Takes Full Control of NetRatings - February 9, 2007

Nielsen, the company formerly known as VNU, bought the loose 40% share of NetRatings for €250 million.

NetRatings specializes in, well, internet measurement.

With more deals in the pipeline – both acquisitions and disposals – the  »Under New Management » sign is clearly visible at Nielsen.