Statement on Total Content Ratings Commercial Release

On March 1, Nielsen Total Content Ratings will have a limited commercial release that will allow subscribing media companies to use their data externally as a way to demonstrate the viewership to their cross-platform content.

We came to this decision after careful consideration of and in response to media clients’ requests for more time to evaluate the new data and prepare for its broader use in market.

Beginning on March 1:

• Subscribing publisher clients will continue to have access to their own and to competitive data from TCR.
• Publisher clients will, for the first time, be able to use their own data from TCR externally.
• Publisher clients are not permitted to share competitive data externally.
• Agency clients will be able to request TCR data directly from Nielsen for any external claim made by publisher clients.

It is important to note that other components of Nielsen’s Total Audience framework including Digital Content Ratings, VOD Content Ratings, Digital in TV Ratings, VOD in TV Ratings, Digital Ad Ratings, Total Ad Ratings, as well as expansions of our TV ratings with Beyond 7 TV reporting are already in active use by our clients, and continue to gain additional traction in the marketplace.

Since every client has a different strategy for cross-platform distribution, Nielsen is providing the flexibility for clients to participate and get value from the data as they see fit. Flexibility is a cornerstone of Nielsen’s Total Audience measurement system to fluidly report content and ad exposure regardless of advertising model.

We are committed to ushering in this change in partnership with our clients, with utmost prudence and continued cooperation.

ABOUT NIELSEN

Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen's Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services for all devices on which content—video, audio and text—is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry's only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen also provides its clients with analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.