AGB Nielsen wins Irish TV measurement contract

by Tristan O'Carroll, Media Week 30-Oct-08, 14:25

LONDON - AGB Nielsen has landed the contract to measure TV audiences in the Republic of Ireland.

The Television Audience Measurement Ireland board of directors reappointed AGB Nielsen Media Research as the supplier of television audience measurement (TAM) services for the Irish market.

The new five-year agreement takes effect on 1 September 2010.

Tim Farmer, managing director of AGB Nielsen Media Research Ireland, said: "Our reappointment is a great endorsement from TAM Ireland and the television industry.

"Moving forward, the service will benefit from a larger panel size of 1,050 homes, providing greater data granularity and will be underpinned by our UNITAM metering system that has specifically been designed to measure the digital world in which consumers view what they want, when they want."

AGB Nielsen's win follows its loss of the contract to measure TV audiences in the UK, which Barb (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) awarded to TNS.

Barb, which is jointly-owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BSkyB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, signed four new contracts for the provision of research services that will support its ratings measurement activities service from January 2010. The contracts will run for six years with an option to extend.

TNS picked up two of the four contracts, with one deal covering meter panel installation and data retrieval, plus processing and audience reporting functions.