FTC OKs Nielsen-Arbitron Deal, But With Strings Attached
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The Federal Trade Commission has approved Nielsen’s $1.3 billion acquisition of Arbitron on the condition that Arbitron make its Portable People Meter available to third parties for cross-platform measurement for the next eight years.
The agreement, announced late Friday following a nine-month review process, allows a cross-platform media-measurement project involving ESPN, Arbitron and ComScore (a Nielsen digital-measurement rival) to continue. It also would allow other third parties to license Arbitron’s PPM and related software and data on similar terms over the next eight years, according to a person familiar with the matter, who also said Arbitron and ComScore would need to find an alternative to Arbitron’s software and data after eight years.
Another third party could only come in to replace ComScore should it drop out of the cross-measurement program, the person added. ComScore, or that successor third party, could expand the program to other media companies besides ESPN.
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