Twitter yesterday announced that it is “tying up with TV ratings giant Nielsen Co. to create the ‘Nielsen Twitter TV Rating,’ a new audience metric based on the popular microblogging service,” according to John Letzing of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Nielsen said that the new Twitter TV Rating “will be used to gauge ‘the reach of the TV conversation on Twitter,’ and will start in the fall 2013 TV season.” Nielsen added that the new metric “will complement current TV ratings” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/18). The two companies will deliver a syndicated-standard metric around the reach of the TV conversation. The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating will give TV networks and advertisers the real-time metrics required to understand TV audience social activity. These ratings will build on NM Incite’s SocialGuide audience engagement analytics platform (Nielsen). DAILY VARIETY’s Andrew Wallenstein noted the new rating will “gauge the activity on the social-media platform relevant to specific TV shows and commercials.” The multiyear, exclusive deal with Nielsen “will unlock a private portion of Twitter's otherwise publicly available data that reveals how many people see a given tweet as opposed to the usual metrics regarding the volume of tweets or those tweeting.” The new metric is “intended to provide advertisers an additional dimension for valuing the content in which they pay to embed marketing messages for both commercials and product integration.” CBS Chief Research Officer David Poltrack “characterized the deal as experimental but said it carries the potential to allow a network to offer an integrated ad buy that could enable a marketer to purchase a 30-second commercial on air along with a companion experience on Twitter” (VARIETY.com, 12/17).
TURN UP THE RADIO: In N.Y., Michael de la Merced reports Nielsen Holdings today said that it had agreed to acquire radio ratings company Arbitron for $1.26B. The offer represents a 26% premium to Arbitron's closing price on Monday. The two companies have a combined revenue of $6B (NYTIMES.com, 12/18).
