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Nielsen suspends PRISM project on in-store metrics
Date: 30/01/2009
The faltering economy claimed another promising out-of-home media measurement service, with the Nielsen Co.'s announcement Friday afternoon that it had suspended its Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric, or PRISM.
The news came about a month after Walmart withdrew from the consortium of retailers, packaged-goods manufacturers and agencies supporting PRISM, and about three months after the closing of Nielsen Out-of-Home, a new service launched to measure TV viewing outside the home in partnership with IMMI.
Nielsen vowed that PRISM would fight on despite Walmart's exit, but sceptics said the loss of a founding member and key driver effectively doomed the effort.
In 2006, Procter & Gamble, Starcom and Walmart came together to recruit packaged-goods manufacturers and retailers for PRISM. The move came after P&G and Walmart demonstrated their clout by refusing to participate in a similar measurement initiative by POPAI (Point-Of-Purchase Advertising International)--effectively torpedoing it.
But in December 2008, Walmart decided not to renew its waiver of a corporate rule against sharing data with competitors; it signaled its intention to withdraw, citing the cost of the service. The low-cost retail giant has exercised increasingly tight fiscal discipline since profits began shrinking a few years ago.
The closing of PRISM is more bad news for Nielsen following the cancellation of Project Apollo - a joint venture with Arbitron - and the shuttering of Nielsen Out-of-Home, a proprietary service to measure out-of-home video exposure. Despite demand from some high-profile networks and a commitment from Publicis' Zenith Media unit to use the new service, Nielsen and IMMI suspended the service because of economic concerns.
Source: MediaPost.com
WFA Comment: In-store marketing was the subject of WFA's 2006 Board meeting in Toronto. WFA members can request more information on the presentations from [email protected]
