Nielsen Reaches Influential Moviegoers

Nielsen Entertainment is partnering with MovieTickets.com to launch the Movie Advisory Board (MAB), a panel of 750,000 keen US moviegoers. The companies plan to track panellists' online behaviour as well as seeking their views on why they chose a movie and whether they liked it.

Around 20,000 online movie ticket buyers each week are opting to take part in the MAB panel. Nearly 70% of current participants have gone to see a movie at least 10 times in the past year - above the national average of 6-7 times for the last 3 years calculated by a recent Nielsen Entertainment NRG Benchmarking Study.

Movie companies will be able to seek panel members' opinions at the point of ticket sale and after viewing a movie to track their decision processes, seek feedback, and establish more general patterns of viewing behaviour.

There are plans to use various research techniques, including technology to passively track sources of information and online behaviour leading up to ticket purchases; qualitative surveys; measurement of advertising effectiveness; and exit surveys.

Adrienne Becker, General Manager of Nielsen Entertainment's Strategic Development Group, and Gary Hiller, President of MovieTickets.com's Research Division, will manage the panel.

Hiller describes the partnership as 'an extraordinary opportunity to furnish the movie industry with must-have knowledge'. He describes MAB as not just a simple panel but a 'community of discriminating, transaction-disposed, early-adopting, entertainment consumers'. Through them, he says, the companies 'will be able to provide crucial, actionable information to entertainment industry decision makers'.

Nielsen Entertainment is comprised of National Research Group (NRG), Independent (NRGi), EDI and EDI International, Television Services, SoundScan, Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), Music Control, VideoScan, Market Navigator, Mobile, Live Events, BookScan, BookData, and Interactive Entertainment. It also draws on the expertise of sister companies including Nielsen Media Research and Net Ratings. More details are online at www.nielsen.com/nielsen_entertainment.html

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.