NDS, provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, and TNS Media Research have today announced a global partnership to create and market an end-to-end set-top box (STB) audience measurement tool 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, is intended to help TV operators get a better understanding of audience behaviour and, as a consequence, increase the revenue potential for their digital platforms.
The co-operation between TNS and NDS will provide TV operators with an economic audience measurement solution capable of polling large sample sizes and capturing all viewing activity for a variety of services, including live, time-shifted and interactive.
TNS and NDS already co-operate globally, and this new 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.
TNS Global: www.tnsglobal.com NDS: www.nds.com