Media tracking group to use iPhones for research
updated 09:35 am EDT, Mon July 26, 2010
Study to use iPhone for Nielsen-like ratings
The Coalition for Innovative Media today said it would be one of the first to use smartphones to conduct market research [sub. required]. About 1,000 people are being promised a free iPhone in return for reporting their usage habits in half-hour blocks. A custom iPhone app will let them report their TV viewing, ad reactions and device use from a handheld rather than the traditional paper forms or dedicated media devices.
NBC and Viacom are two of the larger firms involved. Some companies, however, are believed by the WSJ to be more interested in selling data to companies than to collect research.
The approach is potentially more effective than the approaches like those of Nielsen, which have often had to interpret data from different sources and install proprietary boxes to capture information. Nielsen won't have automatic data from Internet video until the fall. CIMM's approach would require self-reporting but would combine sources and use off-the-shelf hardware.
