Privacy Policy
Last updated on 03/07/2019
1. Introduction
Nielsen Television Audience Measurement Australia Pty Ltd. (Nielsen TAM), an affiliate of Nielsen Holdings plc, was originally established in 1999 as ATR Australia, later becoming AGB Nielsen Media Research, part of the global AGB Group. Originally awarded a seven-year contract to produce Television Audience Measurement (TAM) in the five major Australian metropolitan markets from 1 January 2001, Nielsen TAM has since been awarded multiple contracts to continue to produce metropolitan and regional market TAM data, as well as continuing to report Subscription Television as of August 2003. The company was renamed Nielsen Television Audience Measurement in 2010 following the full acquisition of AGB by Nielsen, the largest provider of TAM services in the world.
Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen’s Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services for all devices on which content – video, audio and text – is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry’s only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen provides its clients with analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, please visit www.nielsen.com.
2. Commitment to Privacy
The privacy of our panel members and survey respondents is extremely important to Nielsen Television Audience Measurement Australia Pty Ltd. (“we” or “us”). We regard privacy as a serious matter on which the goodwill of the company depends.
We protect the identities of our panellists. We will NOT use your personal information (or those of members of your household) to advertise, promote, or sell third party goods or services directly to you or members of your household; and we do not allow our clients to market directly to you.
“Personal information” is defined as any information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable - like your first and last name, home postal address, phone number or personal email address.
When we contact you – by phone, email, SMS, or postal mail depending on what information you provide to us – we will usually do so for one of the following reasons:
- to respond to your inquiries;
- to validate answers you gave;
- to update our records to ensure your information is correct;
- to ensure that the equipment is working properly;
- to send you information regarding your participation such as how to redeem rewards;
- to provide notice regarding changes to our terms, conditions, and policies;
- to ensure compliance with terms of active panel membership; or
- to offer you expanded research opportunities through panels and surveys.
3. Participation on the Panel
Whilst participation on the panel is voluntary, in order for us to continue to protect your privacy we would also require you and your household members to maintain anonymity particularly from anyone associated within the television, radio, film, newspaper, magazine, advertising or Internet industry.
If anyone should enquire about your membership in the ratings panel, please let us know right away. We would like to know:
- How the contact was made (in person, phone, letter, e-mail, via the Internet)
- The name of the person making the contact
- What was asked of you
- When the contact was made
4. The information we collect
Nielsen researches and measures consumers’ behaviour, and conducts research on usage of many different media platforms. We perform different types of measurement in different countries, and we do not perform all types in all countries. Where an opportunity exists to join one or more of these panels, panellists may agree to be measured on additional devices. If you do not participate in a specific type of measurement (e.g., Online), the provisions below that relate to those types of measurement do not apply to you.
Whichever type of panel(s) you participate in, data may be collected automatically, and automatic data collection may not always be obvious to you as it is happening. The goal of this Privacy Statement is to explain how these types of measurement work, what data they collect, and what we do with it. Nielsen will only install measurement hardware or collect data from devices that you have authorised – we will not begin measuring an additional type of device without your prior knowledge and agreement.
In whichever Nielsen panel(s) you participate, you may be invited to participate in additional research studies or surveys, and some of these may ask you to download software, and/or interact with other companies, websites, or applications. If you choose to participate, there may be additional types of data collection that would be disclosed to you at that time, as well as other terms and conditions. We will tell you about new or substantially different types of data collection before they begin, and you can always withdraw your participation.
The following describes in detail the types of data Nielsen collects about panellists, and its sources. We categorise the data we collect into three general types:
- “Demographic data” is general data about you or other members of your household, such as gender, age, occupation, region, or city, and other broad categories;
- “Behaviour data” is when, or how you do things. For example, on a TV panel, this would include when and on what device you watch a program.
- “Preference data” means which content you choose to watch or listen to. For example, for a TV panel this includes what stations and programs you watch.
4.1. DATA YOU PROVIDE US
During the recruitment process or as part of a research study or survey, you provide us with data. This may include directly identifying data, like your first and last name, home postal address, or personal email address that by itself, or in combination with other readily available data, could identify you, or another member of your household, as well as demographic data such as gender, household income, and ethnicity. We collect information about other members of your household through the preliminary interview with a responsible adult member of the household. During the preliminary interview with the household, we share details regarding the data we collect, and the reason for its collection with the adult member participating in the telephone survey. We also provide a Panel Member Website (https://www.nielsentam.com.au/) which, when accessed by a current panel member, provides information relating to: current points accrued through the Gift Scheme, Call Centre contact details, current newsletters and general information relating to being a member of the Television Audience Measurement Panel. Through this website, you may provide personal information related to contest registrations, contest submissions, suggestions, voting activities, and transactional areas.
4.2. DATA COLLECTED BY QUESTIONNAIRES, SURVEYS AND / OR STUDIES
We may ask you from time-to-time to participate in additional surveys, studies, or questionnaires. These surveys may request additional behaviour and preference data, which we use to better understand general consumer behaviour, use, and trends.
4.3. DATA GENERATED BY NIELSEN HARDWARE
We receive data from our metering equipment attached to or placed near your television and/or other electronic devices attached to your television. If your household also participates in the panel that involves online, Internet, broadband, or mobile devices, we collect information through the metering equipment you authorise us to install.
Our metering software detects the electronic signals or energy pattern of sounds, including, but not limited to, embedded sound patterns or codes included within content you’re exposed to such as media broadcasts, streaming content, songs, programs and ads. Information about your access and exposure to this content, including what the content is, when you are exposed to that content, the type of device through which you accessed the content (e.g., televisions, radios, computers, mobile devices, Internet-accessible devices), and when and where you are exposed to it, is gathered passively and automatically by our software, regardless of how or where you watch, listen, access, engage with or are exposed to that content. This allows us to obtain information about your Internet usage, television viewing, listening habits, and other uses. For example, we may receive information from Devices about the ad campaigns you were exposed to and the videos you viewed. Our software encrypts the information (to help ensure its security) before it sends the information to us.
Depending on your level of participation, our software comprehensively tracks activity on panelists’ Devices, whether offline or online. If your panel participation involves mobile devices, the information collected from your mobile devices includes a unique device identifier; ad campaigns you were exposed to; and the videos you viewed through a mobile application. We cannot examine or use the text of any emails or instant messages, and we cannot read the contents of any document open on your computer.
4.4. DATA WE GET FROM OTHER SOURCES
After you join our panel, we may receive additional information about you and your household from other sources, including other Nielsen measurement products. This information is generally related to demographic characteristics, what you watch or buy, and your exposure to content or advertising. We obtain this information from many sources, including outside sources. These include, for example,
- Where your activity indicates that you may be streaming video, we may visit the source website independently to identify the content you viewed;
- Using your IP address, via a lookup service, to identify your region or town;
- Other online or mobile Nielsen measurement products;
- "Loyalty" programs (like those that offer rewards and points) that we may enter into data matching agreements with,
- The manufacturers and sellers of the products you purchase or use,
- Publicly available data (e.g., from public databases, or data you make public online);
- Census data,
- Data suppliers,
- Organisations that collect online data,
- Companies that provide data and data-matching services commercially, and
- Other entities that have a legal right to provide such information to us.
4.5 COOKIES AND OTHER DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
This section applies to:
- Users of a Nielsen panellist portal website, where applicable; and
- Panellists of any type who are measured by Nielsen’s online and mobile products that measure the general public.
We use cookies and other digital technologies (collectively “Digital Technologies”) on our Site and on the Internet for the purposes described in this section. The technologies we use may include:
- session and persistent cookies, pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIFs, hereinafter referred to as “cookies,”
- local shared objects (such as Flash cookies and HTML5 storage),
- application software development kits (SDKs), and
- server-to-server connections.
| Categories of Use | Description | More Information |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | To help us show you the right information and personalize your panel experience. | |
| Security | To improve your experience as a panelist when using the Site or software. For example, these Digital Technologies can remember information such as your user name, language, or location preference. Remembering your choices helps the Site provide enhanced, more personal features. | |
| Functionality | To improve your experience as a panelist when using the Site or software. For example, these Digital Technologies can remember information such as your user name, language, or location preference. Remembering your choices helps the Site provide enhanced, more personal features. | |
| Performance, Analytics and Research | To enable our analytics and research services, including when you are exposed to our services on other websites, applications, or devices. We also use tools like Google Analytics on the Panellist Portal Website to analyse user activity help us understand how our sites are used to improve functionality and make them more intuitive. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit the site, pages visited, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the site. Google Analytics offers a tool to prevent data from being used by Google Analytics, which is available to download from the hyperlink in the column to the right. | http://www.nielsen.com/digitalprivacy https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/ |
| Enhancing Panel Data with data from Media Measurement products | Nielsen uses cookies to match data obtained from its online and mobile general audience measurement products with panellist data in order to improve accuracy of its products and broaden our understanding of our panellists’ consumption of media content. The measurement products measure the exposure to content on various devices and platforms, such as websites, streaming, and mobile applications. | http://www.nielsen.com/digitalprivacy |
| Interest-Based Advertising | The Nielsen Marketing Cloud uses cookies across many popular sites on the Internet to help infer interests and preferences based on visits to those sites. This data is then used to enable advertisers to select specific audiences for online and mobile ads. We use this cookie data to enhance other data we have about you. | https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/privacy-statement/exelate-privacy-policy/opt-in-opt-out.html |
As a participant in our market research activities, you consent to the use of the above technologies.
5. HOW WE USE THE PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We capture usage of television viewing in the home in order to estimate audience ratings. With modern technology continually evolving and multi-media usage in the home developing, we are now extending the measurement of all screen usage in the home to include usage of personally owned computers, tablets and smartphones.
We use personal information for the purpose(s) for which it is collected or provided to us (as stated at the point of collection) or otherwise obvious from the context of collection. For example, information you provide during the recruitment process is used to determine eligibility for participation in one of our panels.
Once your household has joined the panel, we use personal information collected to create a variety of market research insights for our clients. Our research insights help our clients make choices about where and how they advertise, including on broadcast television, in print, radio, online and mobile. Among other things, our solutions help clients understand (for example):
- The makeup of the total audience that viewed an advertisement, including while surfing the Internet or interacting with social media.
- Which television programs appeal to viewers of a particular gender or age range.
- Identify the types of products consumers in different demographic groups would be likely to buy.
- Determine the audience that would be more likely to respond to a particular advertisement online, on a smartphone or tablet.
- Understand what kinds of people viewed an advertisement on a social media site.
We also create reports based upon modelled data. “Modelled data” are projections based on demographic and behavioural characteristics (like gender, age, and TV watching habits) that look at a sample group of people, and then predict what people with similar characteristics or preferences would want to watch or buy. For instance, this allows advertisers to identify the likely audience for a marketing campaign.
We use personal information for quality assurance and research and development purposes, such as data analysis, audits, developing new products, producing predictive data models, improving our services, identifying usage trends, and determining the effectiveness of our communications.
We de-identify personal information and use it for additional research activities. We ensure in such cases that there is no reasonable possibility of re-identifying you from the data used.
In addition, we use personal information to:
- a) operate and manage the panel;
- b) operate and manage our IT and security systems, including to monitor such systems and identify and respond to security events;
- c) communicate with you (as discussed in Section 2 of this Statement);
- d) provide you with information about your participation in the panel, such as how to redeem your rewards;
- e) conduct research for quality assurance and product, service, and business development purposes;
- f) facilitate the day-to-day operations and financial management of the Nielsen group of companies and any corporate transaction (e.g., reorganisation, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, etc.);
- g) protect the rights, safety, property, or operations or one or more Nielsen entities, you or others;
- h) comply with applicable laws and regulations and establish, exercise, and/or defend the legal rights of one or more Nielsen entities; and,
- i) respond to requests and communications from law enforcement authorities or other government officials.
6. How we store and retain personal information
We store your information for as long as needed for our research and analyses purposes and in accordance with law. We use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect your information under our control. Please remember that storage and communication of personal data cannot always be one-hundred percent secure. If security is of concern to you, we encourage you to carefully consider the terms and conditions of this Statement.
7. The transfer of personal information outside of Nielsen
Our clients, the Television Networks of Australia, have no access to your personal information. The information we pass to them is in the form of aggregated statistics and is totally de-identified, that is, it cannot be linked back to any individual person.
The information we pass to them is in the form of aggregated statistics and is totally de-identified, that is, it cannot be linked back to any individual person.
In addition, we will share data about you with:
- Other Nielsen affiliates or subsidiaries for the purposes described in this Statement;
- Our service providers, such as companies that provide website or application hosting, data analysis or processing: IT services; email; auditing services; data matching services; and recruitment, reward, incentive, sweepstakes, or market research product development purposes. These companies are contractually required to keep this information confidential and secure and are prohibited from using this data for any purpose other than carrying out the services that they are performing for us;
- Other market research companies and our clients, in accordance with market research industry ethical guidelines. This may include audits by our clients or other third parties;
- A third party in the event of any reorganisation, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings);
- As we believe to be necessary or appropriate (a) under applicable law; (b) as required by law, including legal process from public and government authorities; (c) to enforce our terms and conditions; (d) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (e) to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of any person; or (f) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
8. How you can access or correct your own personal information
We have set up procedures by which we make the access to your own personal information available. You may feel the need to check its accuracy or to establish that it is kept under secure conditions. In order to access your information, you will need to contact our Privacy Officer (details listed below), requesting access to the identified information. A representative of Nielsen Television Audience Measurement will then contact you. Providing we can establish your identity, any information that we hold in regard to you or your household can be de-identified, deleted or destroyed.
9. Changes to this Privacy Statement
We reserve the right to update and make changes to this Statement and to our practices in collecting and handling personally identifying information. If we were to make a material change (the kind of change to the way we use your data that might make you reconsider participating in this panel) we will notify you and we will provide you with a copy at least 30 days prior to its implementation, giving you time to resign from the panel if you want. You may view the currently effective Privacy Statement at any time, via the Panel Member Website or by calling us on our toll free number 1800 502 206 and requesting a copy.
Your continued participation in our panel after the effective date of any changes will constitute your acceptance of all effective changes.
10. Complaints
If you believe that we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles you may complain to the Privacy Officer using the contact details below. The Privacy Officer will investigate your complaint and advise you whether the complaint has been upheld and, if so, the action taken. If it is not resolved to your satisfaction within 30 days you may refer the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
11. Contacting us
If you have any questions about this Statement or any related issues, you may contact us by any of the following methods:
E-mail us at info.tam.au@nielsen.com.au
Phone 02 9490 6500 and ask for the Privacy Officer.
You can also write to:
The Privacy OfficerNielsen Television Audience Measurement
166 Epping Rd
LANE COVE NSW 2066
