Arbitron, Nielsen call off venture
From Times Wire Services
Arbitron Inc. and Nielsen Co. terminated a project to create a service that measures what audiences buy in response to advertising because they couldn’t get enough customers to use it.
Work on “Project Apollo” began in 2005, the companies said. Arbitron, based in New York, said this month that it recorded a loss of $6.9 million for its part in the venture in 2007.
Customers balked at the service, which tested a group of 11,000 people to show links between exposure to ads and buying habits, because it was too expensive, an Arbitron spokesman said.
