Six new blue-chip companies put their names to the Coalition for Media Measurement (CIMM), a group formed with the express intent of improving the way TV, online and mobile media is measured.
Gannett, PepsiCo, Belo, Conagra, Hearst and Microsoft all said they would join January 25, as CIMM held its first meeting of the year, according to a press statement issued today. The group now consists 21 companies crossing the marketing and media fields.
Jane Clarke, who is managing director of the CIMM, said the additions would bring a greater diversity of perspectives to the group which is looking to fund a variety of new measurement initiatives. Late last year, CIMM had requested information from a variety of firms, including Nielsen Co., in the hope of gaining better set-top-box data.
CIMM's first task is to define a set of common terms for analyzing and processing set-top-box data, the group dubs this initiative CIMM STB Lexicon. It will then begin using test data from providers. "It's clear the industry needs a common language around set top data," said Clarke in the statement.
CIMM has also hired Charlene Weisler, the former head of research for Rainbow Media and a media research consultant.
