NetRatings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT), a provider of the Nielsen/NetRatings Internet audience measurement services, and Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR), a leading provider of technology research and analysis, today announced a strategic partnership to create the industry’s first Technographics® Internet audience measurement service. The new service will provide Web marketers a tool to understand how consumer attitudes and technology purchasing behavior relate to Internet surfing behavior.

The service will combine Forrester’s Technographics segmentation, a model used to understand and project consumers’ technology attitudes and behavior, with Nielsen/NetRatings’ Internet user data collected from 70,000 US panelists.

The resulting service will enable marketers to better target their Web audience, increase sales, decrease cost-of-sales, and reduce the risk of promotional activities. The Technographics Internet audience measurement service will help answer questions, such as:

  • How does my Web traffic compare to my competitors? Are my visitors more or less receptive to technology? Are they predisposed to buy earlier than others?
  • Where can I find consumers most likely to buy cutting-edge entertainment products, such as iDTV and MP3 players?
  • Where can I find those who are most likely to adopt bill payment or wireless financial services?

“This challenging economy is forcing marketers to reevaluate their budgets, and this new service will help our clients get more bang for their marketing dollars,” said William M. Bluestein, Ph.D., Forrester’s president and COO. “By linking consumer attitudes toward technology with their online behavior, marketers can target and retain consumers more effectively. Many of our clients rely on Nielsen/NetRatings information and this relationship will make Technographics more actionable.”

“Forrester is one of the most respected names in the research business and we’re excited to be partnering with them. Armed with this information, our clients will gain a deeper understanding of Web surfing behavior and attitudes of technology consumers,” said Dave Toth, president and CEO of NetRatings. “We’re delighted that research firms across the industry are looking to Nielsen/NetRatings as the industry standard for Internet audience measurement information.”

About Technographics
Forrester’s Technographics is a comprehensive quantitative research program analyzing how today’s technology affects consumer attitudes and behavior. The program provides a combination of continuous, large scale survey data, consumer segmentation, and technology insight. This powerful array of information helps clients develop effective marketing, media, and product strategies for today’s marketplace.