ACNielsen multi-market online panels heading for 100,000 members

ACNielsen's Your Voice online panels have gathered momentum in recent years and further complement the company's broad array of research methodologies. ACNielsen spearheaded the establishment of access pools in the Asia Pacific region six years ago following the acquisition of www.consult.com.

"Internet research is being used increasingly by research savvy marketers in high internet penetration markets. With the continued evolution of the Internet landscape globally, and the rapid increase in Internet penetration in developing markets, our online research is embarking on a new and interesting phase with the availability of large panels of Internet respondents available for regular market surveys," commented Travyn Rhall, Managing Director, Customised Research, ACNielsen Asia Pacific.

"As the internet matures as a research medium we will move from large scale access pools, where we have over 1,000,000 respondents, to more tightly controlled and balanced panels."

"Your Voice panel members earn points each time they complete a survey and redeem them for a wide range of items. Respondents are recruited mainly from offline methods, and supplemented by online methods, and our Measurement Science teams are heavily involved in their 'balancing' and roll-out to ensure the most representative Online Panels available in the marketplace. We've developed these standards to ensure our clients are receiving actionable consumer insights based on a good quality, online sample," commented Rhall.

"ACNielsen has been recruiting for Your Voice panels in 14 markets across Asia Pacific and the first five are fully operational now, in Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore and New Zealand, with Hong Kong and China due to be fully operational by the end of 2005."

Your Voice is designed to supplement existing research tools rather than replace them. The benefits of online surveys include: eliminating any interviewer bias, more affordable, shorter fieldwork time, more thought-through responses, more targeted and allowing audio or visual features that would have been possible only through face-to-face interviews in those days.

There are plans in the pipeline to fast-track additional online panels in Asia Pacific, and a target panel size of over 250,000.

About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a VNU business, is the world's leading marketing information provider. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the unit provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behaviour. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.

ACNielsen is part of the VNU Marketing Information group. VNU is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognised brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media measurement and information (Nielsen Media Research) and business information (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Computing, Intermediair). VNU is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. The company employs 38,000 people. Total revenues amounted to EUR 3.8 billion in 2004. VNU is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam (ASE: VNU) stock exchange. For more information, please visit the VNU website at www.vnu.com.