Nielsen Entertainment Launches Ringtone Sales Charts

Posted: November 29, 2006 in: Rap | By: Jason |

Nielsen Mobile — a division of Nielsen Entertainment, who is responsible for providing the album sales tracking system called SoundScan — has announced the launch of Nielsen RingScan to monitor the rapidly expanding United States ringtone market.

RingScan will issue a weekly report of polyphonic, master, and voice ringtone sales, which will be used by Nielsen Mobile clients, including both entertainment companies & mobile providers, as an integral information and analysis tool of the mobile ringtone market.

"Given the impressive and rapid growth of the ringtone market, the industry has turned to Nielsen to provide the needed tools to track and maximize the real potential," said Paul Leakas, General Manager of Nielsen Mobile. "In just a few short years, we have witnessed the birth of the multi-billion dollar worldwide ringtone market and a great demand for accurate measurement."

Nielsen RingScan will debut in the December 2006 issue of Billboard magazine as the data source for the Billboard Hot RingMasters chart. The Hot RingMasters chart will be comprised of the weekly sales of the top 20 Master tones — ringtones which actually play a segment of an original musical recording. The chart will appear every other week in the magazine, and updated on Billboard.biz and Billboard.com weekly.

"Billboard's 2004 launch of the Hot Ringtones chart, which tracks sales of polyphonic ringtones, drew global attention from the consumer press," said Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts and senior analyst. "Now that the majority of sales have shifted from polyphonics to master recordings, Billboard is eager to add Hot RingMasters to its charts menu."

Nielsen Mobile compiles ringtones and full-length over-the-air music download sales data from wireless carriers, aggregators and other mobile entertainment retailers. Tracking since January of 2005, Nielsen Mobile is one of the latest additions to Nielsen Entertainment's portfolio of existing businesses dedicated to providing information and analysis tools and marketing solutions to the global entertainment industry.

Nielsen RingScan has coverage of more than 80% of all U.S. ringtone sales.