CIMM Zeroes In on Executive Director

The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, the NBC Universal-backed venture aimed at improving audience measurement, is due to make some news in the coming days, according to our sources in the field. The first orders of business: hiring a managing director and issuing a request for proposal outlining requirements for interested parties.Among the handful of names circulating as potential executives: Steve Sternberg and Jon Mandel.

Sternberg, former Magna research chief, had separate lunch dates in recent weeks with Alan Wurtzel, NBCU’s chief researcher who is spearheading the CIMM body, and Wurtzel’s CBS counterpart, David Poltrack. None of the executives would divulge what was discussed.

Jon Mandel, the former chief of strategic solutions at media agency Group M, ran the NielsenConnect outfit with the idea of fusing research out of various Nielsen units before exiting in February to consult for private equity firms.

CIMM’s founding members are comprised of seven media companies, CBS, Discovery Communications, NBC Universal, News Corp., Time Warner Inc., Viacom and The Walt Disney Co.; four ad agencies, GroupM, Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands, Omnicom Media Group and Starcom MediaVest Group Worldwide; and three large advertisers, AT&T, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. A spokeswoman for the group had no comment on its current progress.

How CIMM proceeds in light of Comcast, which is not a member but could end up with a majority stake in NBCU, is anyone’s guess. Likewise, Nielsen’s meeting with clients last week to discuss online viewership could end up neutralizing CIMM’s overtures to Nielsen’s rivals.