Nielsen Holdings, a global information and measurement company, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have come to an agreement regarding the terms outlined in the FTC Decision regarding Nielsen’s acquisition of Arbitron. There was some concern on the part of the industry as well as the FTC that this purchase would cause issues in terms of the competitive landscape.
Nielsen is a leader in measuring a variety of statistics used to determine market positions and other things for television, radio, PC, mobile and other media platforms. They already have a strong presence in about 100 countries, making them the default resource used by many marketers and brands around the world.
Nielsen released a statement about the situation which said, “Nielsen and comScore have agreed to terms and other requirements in compliance with the terms set forth in the FTC Decision and Order dated September 20, 2013. Nielsen’s agreement with the FTC was intended to preserve the competitive landscape in place prior to the acquisition by effectively enabling the continuation of a cross-platform project measuring media consumption across TV, radio, PCs, mobile devices and tablets, which was announced in Fall 2012 by then Arbitron, in concert with ESPN and comScore.
With our best-in-class resources, our deep knowledge of video, and our commitment to innovation, we at Nielsen expect to help the market define cross-platform measurement and further execute on our strategy at a rapid rate.”
This acquisition has been moving along slowly since 2012 due to the objections raised by the FTC, but it seems that it is finally going to be completed. This will allow Nielsen to provide their customers with improved information in how advertisements are used, especially in regards to a multi-platform campaign. Running ads on television and mobile devices, for example, will, in theory, be able to be tracked better using the information available through Nielsen.
