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Nielsen Media Research is the leading provider of television audience measurement and advertising information services in the world. In the United States, the company provides television audience estimates for broadcast and cable networks, television stations, national syndicators, regional cable television systems, satellite providers, advertisers and advertising agencies.
The data Nielsen Media Research collects from its sample homes can include: when the television set is turned on; which channel is tuned; when the channel is changed; when the set is off; who is viewing; and when that person's viewing starts and stops.
For details visit www.nielsenmedia.com
Ask people in television what they watch most and they'll likely say "the Nielsens." That's not a TV program but rather the numbers behind virtually every decision the industry makes — like where to spend more than $60 billion in advertising every year in the United States.
Such decisions are based on audience estimates from Nielsen Media Research (Oldsmar, Fla.) referred to as TV ratings. To provide those ratings estimates, Nielsen places an electronic sampling device called the People Meter in 8,000 randomly selected U.S. households.
Eliminating sampling error is critical to Nielsen's success. That’s why it does whatever needed to ensure that selected Nielsen sample homes provide accurate and usable information. When a Nielsen home happens to go offline, Nielsen dispatches a field technician — who sometimes must phone Nielsen engineers at headquarters for help. In the past, if the technician had trouble getting the People Meter hooked up to the home's television equipment, an engineer might have to fly to the household's location. That would incur flight, hotel and meal costs in addition to the loss of an engineer for two days. Having fewer households to sample also increased sampling error.
To avoid these problems, Nielsen now supplies its technicians with Sprint videophones. Today when they call engineers, technicians can send and receive 15-second video clips — images of circuit schematics and pictures of the device while being serviced. That means engineers and technicians can collaborate at a distance, avoiding the costs and delays of travel and reducing sampling error risk.
Besides a reduction in travel expenses, technical difficulties are now being diagnosed faster and resolved sooner. In addition, Nielsen field techs equipped with videophones have been able to accept and complete a greater number of open items than counterparts without a videophone.
As a global service provider with more than a century of experience, Sprint has the financial resources required to maintain high service levels. What's more, Sprint is one of the best positioned companies to offer a total networking solution — one that integrates wireless and wireline services — so your employees can be connected seamlessly and securely, virtually anywhere their jobs take them. With a single point of contact for multiple solutions, you'll find Sprint exceptionally easy to do business with and a company you can count on for responsive customer service and uncompromising network reliability. It's no wonder that 95 percent of the FORTUNE 1000® use Sprint for wireless, data, voice or IP solutions.
"The TV and advertising communities depend on us to deliver unbiased and accurate information without fail. That's why we chose Sprint, a competent partner that stands behind its commitments."
Paul Mears, Senior Vice President - Engineer and Technology R&D
Nielsen Media Research, Oldsmar, Fla.
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