NFL Picks Up Nielsen Media Research Option, Inks New Five-Year Deal.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 1998--Nielsen Media Research today announced that the National Football League (NFL) has exercised an option clause by signing a new five-year agreement for audience and sports-marketing information from Nielsen Sports Marketing Service.

The NFL is one of the charter clients for Nielsen Sports Marketing Service, and has been a customer since the service was launched in 1995. The service tailors Nielsen Media Research television and advertising data to meet specialized information needs of sports leagues, teams, and advertisers and their agencies.

Under the new agreement, Nielsen Sports Marketing Service will provide the NFL with customized audience information from Nielsen Media Research television samples, including broadcast and cable networks, and local stations. The data will enable the NFL, for example, to analyze audience size and composition before, during and after NFL games in order to understand audience demographics and flows. The information also enables the NFL to quantify the size and composition of the viewing audience, providing important information for advertising and promotional planning.

"Over the past three years, Nielsen Sports Marketing has provided us with critical insights to help us better understand our audience," says Joe Ferreira, Director of Broadcasting for the NFL. "Extending our relationship will ensure we have the information we need going forward."

"As a charter client of Nielsen Sports Marketing, the NFL has helped our business develop and become an even more valuable asset to customers," says Barbara Zidovsky, vice president, Nielsen Sports Marketing Service. "The NFL's decision to extend our relationship is a vote of confidence in our service and the value of the information we provide. We're looking forward to working with the NFL as they move into the 21st Century."

Nielsen Sports Marketing Service is a specialized unit of Nielsen Media Research which provides a broad range of syndicated and custom research for sports leagues, teams, and marketers as well as for stations, networks, advertisers and their agencies, and production companies.

Nielsen Media Research (NYSE: NMR) 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, and national syndicators. Local rating services estimate audiences for each of 210 television markets in the US, including electronic metered service in 44 markets. Additional information: http://www.nielsenmedia.com.

Note to Editors: Nielsen Media Research is the well-known TV ratings company. It is separate from ACNielsen Corporation, the market research services company.