BookTrack Australia to Rebrand

BookTrack Australia, an ACNielsen Australia and Whitaker joint venture, has announced a change in name to Nielsen BookScan, as parent company, VNU, renames its Media and Entertainment Division under the Nielsen brand worldwide.

The Nielsen brand name will now be linked to all of VNU's entertainment information units and will be used in all international markets offering a media measurement service. The name change indicates VNU's move toward offering global data products to subscribers with one internationally recognised brand, integrating BookScan (US), Whitaker BookTrack (UK), and BookTrack Australia data under the Nielsen BookScan name. Nielsen BookScan will also be able to offer better linkage with other VNU media and entertainment businesses. Nielsen BookScan will be managed globally as a single business unit under the control of UK-based Richard Knight, Executive Director, formerly Managing Director of Whitaker BookTrack.

'It makes good sense to bring the book sales data from the existing territories - Australia, UK and USA - under the same management,' says Kylie Fallon, account manager, Nielsen BookScan Australia. 'We can start applying the same standards and producing the same reports on a global basis.'

The global data products planned by Nielsen BookScan for this Spring would bring publishers and agents closer to determining with accuracy the international value of an author or title, and identifying markets where an author or title may be either under performing or exceeding expectations.

Nielsen BookScan currently has access to retail data from 65% of the U.S. market, 85% of the UK market, and 75% of the Australian market. Nielsen BookScan plans to secure data in the near future from other English language markets including Ireland and South Africa.

In addition to BookScan, the Nielsen name is now also linked to all of VNU's existing entertainment information businesses, including ACNielsen EDI (became Nielsen EDI), The National Research Group (Nielsen NRG), VideoScan (Nielsen VideoScan), SoundScan (Nielsen SoundScan), Broadcast Data Systems (Nielsen BDS) and ACNielsen ReelResearch (Nielsen ReelResearch).

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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