Nielsen Fourth Screen Network Audience Report

First ever standardized audience data enables comparisons with TV and other video screens

NEW YORK, NY – April 12, 2010 – In the last four months of 2009, adults 18 years or older were exposed to 237 million video ads per month in the ten location-based video networks included in The Nielsen Company’s inaugural “Fourth Screen Network Audience Report.”

Nielsen’s “Fourth Screen Network Audience Report” grows out of the rapid proliferation of video networks in non-traditional spots such as movie theaters, bars and restaurants, gas stations, health clubs, and other place-based venues. This is the first time that any measurement company has provided a comprehensive, standardized audience reporting that allows advertisers to easily compare data from these networks with measurements from the other three screens: TV, Internet, and Mobile.

“For the first time, ad buyers and sellers have a single source to evaluate digital place-based advertising networks in reaching key age and sex demographics, and compare these to other video sources such as TV,” said Terrie Brennan, SVP for New Business Development at Nielsen. “This syndicated report provides the insight necessary to understand the impact of advertising on these networks with television and Internet as well as other cross-media campaigns.”

The report finds that 54% of the 237 million monthly exposures to persons 18+ were displayed to male audiences, with 46% exposed to females. An estimated 50% of all the monthly exposures to adults were displayed to men and women in the key 18-34 demographic.

GROSS MONTHLY DIGITAL VIDEO AD EXPOSURES, P18+

(September-December 2009)

In addition to adult audience measurements, the report also includes child and teenage measurements in movie theater venues where younger demographics make up an important part of the audience. Nielsen found that there were almost 23 million gross monthly exposures to moviegoers under the age of 18 each month, making up over one-quarter of the total audience in this venue.

GROSS MONTHLY DIGITAL VIDEO AD EXPOSURES, P2+

(September-December 2009)

The Fourth Screen vs Other Media

Nielsen’s “Fourth Screen Network Audience Report” enables direct comparisons between digital place-based video networks and other video networks, including TV and Internet. For example, the C3 average audience for a primetime broadcast TV commercial was three million viewers age 18+ in October 2009. During that same period, video ad exposures to NCM’s and Screenvision’s movie theater networks combined for an average 61.7 million, meaning that it took about 20 primetime ads to reach the same audience as a typical month-long advertising flight on both movie theater networks.

The first quarterly report reflects the ten digital place-based networks that were actively measured from September through December 2009. Future reports will expand the number of included networks, based on those that are actively measured each quarter. The report provides both average and gross minute exposures across a range of age and gender demographic compositions.

The report was assembled using Nielsen’s integrated approach of combining traffic and transaction data with demographic and qualitative data. Traffic and transaction data were gathered through standard on-site traffic counts, third-party reported transactions, and client-supplied transaction data that were either audited against third-party data or accompanied by an Affidavit of Accuracy. Custom measurements were conducted to assemble demographic and qualitative data for all venues appearing in the report. These measurements consisted of either on-site interviews, online surveys, or telephone surveys.