Nielsen has agreed to acquire US-based audience engagement firm IAG Research for $225m; and will make it ‘the cornerstone for a new analytics practice’.

The purchase will be concluded during the second quarter of 2008 and financed by the issuance of notes, existing facilities and cash. It will be effected through a merger of IAG with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nielsen in which IAG shareholders will receive cash for their shares.

‘IAG will add a new dimension to Nielsen’s media business and will be the cornerstone for a new analytics practice that will provide our clients with even greater insights and clarity,’ stated Nielsen Chairman and CEO David Calhoun.

IAG conducts research with viewers to measure the effectiveness of ad and program engagement across television and the Internet. Its clients include major advertisers, ad agencies, Internet providers, telecoms services, TV and cable networks and other content providers. IAG had unaudited annual revenue of more than $35m in 2007.

The firm’s co-founders and Co-CEOs Alan Gould and Ken Orkin said that the acquisition will enable IAG to make its services available to a wider base of clients.

Web sites: www.nielsen.com and www.iagr.net .

Nielsen announced a month ago that it would be incorporating Ad-ID (Advertising Digital Identification) coding into its ‘KeepingTrac’ system, which enables advertisers to check that their TV ads ran according to their media plans.

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