Commercial TV Intelligence Service Expands Coverage to Reach All 200+ U.S. TV Markets.

Business & Entertainment Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 2000

Monitor-Plus Service from Nielsen Media Research

Additional 65 Million Commercial TV Announcements Projected Annually

1,200 More Coca-Cola Commercials Reported in First Week

In the biggest expansion since the launch of its competitive advertising intelligence service -- Monitor-Plus -- Nielsen Media Research announced today that its coverage of broadcast television commercials has increased from the top 75 markets to encompass all U.S. television markets. The service launched on September 25th.

Monitor-Plus continues, of course, to report all broadcast television commercial activity in the top 75 markets. The significant expansion in coverage, which began last month, encompasses 440 additional TV stations, distributed in 135 additional markets. These additional markets alone account for more than one-fifth of total U.S. TV households, representing $1.6 trillion in annual retail spending.(a)

The ability to track TV commercial activity associated with all registered commercials in every market in which they appear has been enabled through the introduction of Nielsen Media Research's new metering technology, developed in conjunction with the ratings service's core TV audience measurement business.

For the first week of the expanded service, for example, 1.2 million additional television commercials were tracked, analyzed and reported across broadcast television stations just in the additional markets. This total amounted to more than 40% of the total number of broadcast television commercials derived from monitoring of Spot, Network and Syndication clearances throughout the United States. On an annualized basis, the 1.2 million additional commercials translates into approximately 65 million commercial messages.

This new-found capability not only notes commercial occurrences by brand, by advertiser and by creative execution, it also incorporates the same rich contextual data, including audience delivery, and spending estimates, formerly limited to the largest TV markets.

To illustrate further, while Coca Cola placed nearly 900 announcements in Spot Television in the largest markets during the week of September 25, that total represented less than half of the 2,100 spots placed in local television on Coke's behalf throughout the entire U.S.

In the case of Ford, during the same week, its Dealer Associations accounted for more than 7,500 local spots just in the additional markets, amounting to an outlay of more than $1.5 million, translating into an annualized spending total of almost $80 million, none of it reportable until now.

"Advertisers have long sought access to competitive advertising intelligence in all markets -- for good reason," said Dave Thomas, managing director of Monitor-Plus. "Collectively, these markets pack a tremendous economic wallop, larger than that of such major foreign economies as France and the U.K.(b) With this breakthrough, for the first time, advertisers, agencies, and station groups will have the ability to analyze the complete U.S. television marketplace for themselves and their competitors."

"By significantly expanding its monitoring of TV advertising nationwide, Nielsen Media Research has achieved a significant step forward for the industry," said David Ernst, director of media research at TN Media. "It will lead to greater quality and consistency in the area of competitive advertising intelligence gathering within the critically important television medium."

Art Tatnell, director of media information at Bates Worldwide, said: "This major expansion in available competitive TV advertising information, encompassing the entire U.S., should prove a boon to all of our major clients, especially for those retail oriented accounts such as CVS, Hyundai and Wendy's."

Through this expansion, customers will be able to track commercial activity, including estimates of viewership and spending associated with specific brand schedules or campaigns, throughout the U.S., not just within the largest markets. "This expansion demonstrates Nielsen Media Research's commitment to offering its customers the most comprehensive view of competitive advertising activity," said Thomas.

Nielsen Media Research is the leading provider of television audience measurement and related services in the United States and Canada. Its National People Meter Service provides audience estimates for all national program sources, including broadcast networks, cable networks, Spanish language television, and national syndicators. Local rating services estimate audiences for each of 210 television markets in the U.S., including electronic metered service in 49 markets. Nielsen Media Research also provides competitive advertising intelligence information through Monitor-Plus, and Internet usage and advertising information through Nielsen//NetRatings. Nielsen Media Research is a subsidiary of Netherlands-based VNU, one of the world's leading publishing and information companies. Additional information is available at: www.nielsenmedia.com.

(a) DMA Test Market Profile, Nielsen Media Research (b) CIA Publications Factbook