Arbitron and Nielsen Co. Drop Apollo

Abitron and Nielsen Co. recently decided to drop the Apollo program, which used Portable People Meters to measure media exposure both in home as well as out of home. It was used to monitor consumer media and buying habits and organized all of the data in one comprehensive database. The program was funded by several notable packaged-goods dealers, including Unilever, SC Johnson and Kraft Foods, but primarily by Procter and Gamble, who desired to use the program for the purpose of designing more productive media decisions. Annually, the company spends two-hundred million dollars globally. They were responsible for a twenty million dollar contribution to the initiation of the program; however that amount has been refuted. The program fit well as a part of their ““connect and develop” approach to innovation through outside partners.” Another contributor, Arbitron and Neilsen, provided another forty-five million dollars to the start of the program. Despite all of this, the program was unable to attract the necessary attention from clients to stay afloat. Hopes for the program were initially high, as its coverage reached both New York Times and Business Week. The decision to cut the program came a week before a final decision on the company was to be made. Mr Morris was quoted as saying that everyone involved knew that the program was an ambitious effort from the beginning. Costs just became too high and the program died before it ever got off of its feet.



Article:
http://adage.com/article?article_id=125341
Written by: Jack Neff