Fairfax and Nielsen have announced that the Fairfax Nielsen Poll will cease from July 2014. This is a result of a decision by Nielsen to cease political polling in Australia.
Speaking on the change Chris Percy Managing Director of Nielsen Pacific said “We have greatly valued the close relationship we have had with Fairfax on polling since the mid 1990’s and this was not a decision taken lightly. It reflects the evolution of Nielsen’s business towards a much greater focus on core strategic work directed at consumer purchasing and media consumption.”
The Managing Director of Australian Publishing Media, Allen Williams, said The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Australian Financial Review were committed to continuing political polling.
Mr Williams said he hoped any new polling arrangement would build on the outstanding reputation the Nielsen survey had gained.
“The Fairfax poll will continue after our current arrangements with Nielsen come to end,” Mr Williams said.
“We are currently exploring a range of options to strengthen and broaden the new Fairfax poll’s depth and reach. We are hoping to capture an even greater diversity of views in an ever-changing and fast-moving political landscape.”
The Nielsen Poll traces its history back to July 1973 when McNair Anderson began providing data for Australian Public Opinion Polls – The Gallup Poll. AGB acquired a share of the company in the early 1980s and the poll became known as the ‘AGB McNair Poll’ until the mid-1990s when Nielsen acquired AGB McNair. After a brief period as the ‘ACNielsen McNair Poll’ it became known as the ‘ACNielsen Poll’ from 1997 to 2007 and then just the ‘Nielsen Poll’ from August 2007.
Nielsen and Fairfax began their polling relationship in 1995 and have worked together over 7 federal elections from 1996 to 2013. The 19 year Fairfax relationship has been the longest in the poll’s history. The Nielsen Poll was published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age from January 1995 and in The Australian Financial Review from February 2012.
ABOUT NIELSEN Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence and mobile measurement. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
