Analyst: FTC Condition on Nielsen-Arbitron Hardly Matters

Commissioner Joshua Wright blasted the Federal Trade Commission in his dissent for over-reaching in the condition it imposed on Nielsen’s purchase of Arbitron, but the ultimate impact of the condition on the future market for cross-platform audience measurement may be inconsequential.

The Federal Trade Commission’s condition on Nielsen’s $1.3 billion purchase of Arbitron, to keep alive “Project Blueprint,” a one-year-old custom research project, was engineered by Arbitron and comScore to benefit only one client, ESPN. As part of the condition, Nielsen must license data gathered by Arbitron’s portable people meter and other software, to the project. No Nielsen assets are involved in the condition, and there are no restrictions on Nielsen in developing XCR, its own cross-platform product. “We view this condition as almost equivalent to no condition at all,” wrote Bernstein Research senior analyst Todd Juenger Tuesday in a report issued to investors.