NDS and TNS Join Forces to Develop Set-top Box Audience Measurement Solution

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
NDS Group logo

  • NDS and TNS to offer a joint STB audience measurement solution for TV operators
    Audience measurement capability to form part of the new NDS Dynamic™ suite of advertising solutions and TNS’ established STB data processing and analysis
  • Solution to provide accurate viewing and advertising measurement on TV platforms, helping broadcasters, pay-TV operators and advertisers to enhance their advertising revenues
  • Already jointly involved in a number of projects worldwide, the companies plan to continue to work together on future STB measurement and advertising solutions

LONDON, UK – IBC (Hall 1, Stand A71) — NDS Group plc (NASDAQ: NNDS), the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, including satellite, cable and IPTV platforms, and TNS Media Research (LSE:TNS), a global leader in TV, radio and internet audience measurement, today announced a global partnership to create and market an end-to-end STB audience measurement solution for digital TV operators.

The solution, based on the NDS Dynamic™ advertising suite and the TNS Media Research Return Path Data (RPD) audience measurement service, will help TV operators to better understand audience behaviour and, as a consequence, increase the revenue potential for their digital platforms.

The ever growing choice of channels, non-linear viewing and interactivity on TV platforms requires new solutions for audience measurement. In today’s fragmented media market, STB-based measurement is a crucial addition to the capabilities of the current audience measurement field.

The cooperation between TNS and NDS will provide TV operators with an economic audience measurement solution capable of polling large sample sizes for audiences that choose to opt-in to the measurement solution, capturing all viewing activity for a variety of services, including live, time-shifted and interactive. Operators using the system will gain a true insight into their subscribers’ behaviour, and therefore help them to improve their offering and enhance their revenue streams.

TNS and NDS already co-operate in a number of audience measurement services globally and this agreement is a natural extension of this relationship. The partnership agreement aims to create a best-of-breed solution combining NDS’ expertise in STB data collection with TNS’ expertise in STB data processing and analysis. TNS and NDS will also explore future opportunities in STB audience measurement and advertising applications.

Nigel Smith, NDS Chief Marketing Officer, said: “Accurate analysis of viewing behaviour is a key requirement for our customers. With its expertise in audience measurement and viewer research, TNS is clearly a great partner for NDS in the advertising space. We see audience measurement as an integral part of the advanced advertising technologies we offer through the NDS Dynamic suite of advertising solutions”.

Nick Burfitt, TNS’ Head of RPD services, added: “The ability to monitor any type of STB- related viewing activity is a vital tool in the measurement of digital TV and advertising accountability in the long term. With NDS Dynamic Audience Measurement – the industry’s most widely deployed STB audience measurement software, NDS was a natural choice for us in this area. We believe this cooperation will provide TV operators with a credible and easy-to-deploy audience measurement solution that will give them better insight into their business and therefore generate more value for their platform”.

The partners will demonstrate their joint offering on the NDS stand at IBC, September 12-16 in Amsterdam (Hall 1, Stand A71).