For more information, contact VNU VideoScan, Larry Solters or Hannah Kampf, 213 639 6169 or ACNielsen, Matt Bell, 847 605 5686.
VNU And ACNielsen To Provide Complete Measurement Of Pre-Recorded Video And DVD Sales
ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen Corporation (NYSE: ART), and VideoScan, an operating unit of VNU Corporation, today announced the formation of a strategic venture to launch VideoScanô, the most complete pre-recorded video and DVD sales tracking service available. The service will generate information compiled from the grocery, drug, mass, specialty and direct-to-consumer channels, providing nearly 100 percent coverage of pre-recorded video and DVD sales channels. Robert Tomei, ACNielsen Senior Vice President of Marketing in the U.S., said, ""We are extremely excited about partnering with VNU. Our combined coverage and experience provides the most powerful service available for tracking and understanding sales of pre-recorded videos and DVDs. This partnership will also provide movie studios with a much more complete package of analytic, consumer knowledge and category management tools than ever before."" Mike Fine, VNU President of VideoScan, commented, ""As the industry leader for video and DVD point-of-sale retail information, we welcome this alliance with ACNielsen, the consumer packaged goods insights leader. This is truly a synergistic relationship that will enable us to provide our clients with a single source of complete consumer insights for their industry."" ACNielsen will utilize ScanTrackô, its core retail measurement service, to track sales of pre-recorded videos and DVDs through discount mass merchandisers, drug stores and grocery stores. VideoScan will provide coverage of other mass merchandise and specialty retailers, as well as direct mail and Internet channels. The new service will be marketed as ""VideoScan, A Service of VNU and ACNielsen."" Beyond being the preeminent source of sales information for specific video and DVD titles, VideoScan will also provide sales figures by individual retail chains, consumer insights through the ACNielsen HomeScanô Consumer Panel, decision support and merchandising software, and custom analysis through the ACNielsen in-house advanced analytics group, KnowledgeWorksô. The new service will be available in the first quarter of 2000. ACNielsen is a leading provider of market research to the global entertainment industry. The company's ACNielsen EDI unit is the worldwide authority on boxoffice results, information and analysis for the motion-picture industry. It gathers boxoffice receipt information from over 45,000 screens each evening and provides analytical data critical to the distribution, exhibition and production of motion pictures. ACNielsen, offering services in over 100 countries and with 1998 revenues of $1.4 billion, is the global leader in delivering market research, information and analysis to the consumer products and services industries. VideoScan is the home video industry's premiere information resource whose charts and data appear regularly in Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Video Business, Video Week, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and many other trade and consumer publications. Through an exclusive partnership with the DVD Video Group, VideoScan has been instrumental in promoting the success of the launch of the DVD format. VideoScan has been tracking and reporting retail sales of video product since 1993 and DVD product since the launch of the format in 1997. VideoScan and SoundScan are part of the VNU Entertainment Group. VNU provides precision marketing and demographic analysis capabilities to the entertainment industry. VNU-EMS enables users to access valuable product, marketplace, and consumer information and services.