2008 Claritas Demographic Update from Nielsen Company

Highlighted by a series of methodological changes designed to improve data quality in rapid growth areas, The Nielsen Company announced today the release of its annual update of 2008 demographic estimates and 2013 projections for all U.S. markets.

“In order to adapt to a changing demographic landscape and to take advantage of new resources we’re always looking for ways to innovate and improve on estimation techniques,” said Ken Hodges, Chief Demographer for Nielsen Claritas, Nielsen’s marketing information provider that compiles the data.

In line with that, Hodges pointed out that two key changes include the addition of data on new housing units from ADVO, a leading direct mail marketing company that reaches 90 percent of American households, and the inclusion of estimates for states and large counties (with populations of 65,000 or more) from the Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey (ACS).

Hodges said the update covers many geographic levels including national, state, county, place (city/town), census tract and block group. Data is also available for commonly-used areas such as metropolitan areas, ZIP Codes and media areas such as Designated Market Areas (DMAs). “Because it is produced for small areas, the update can be easily aggregated to custom geographic areas specified by the user,” he said.

Mike Mancini, Claritas Vice President for Data Product Management, said this initial release is the first in a series of data sets made available on the Claritas data product websites - SiteReports.com and Claritas MarketPlace – beginning in early April, and when completed later in the year will total 18 reports and 15 maps.

“This release process is designed to make the data available as soon as possible, while maintaining Claritas’ commitment to accuracy and reliability,” he said.

For more information about the update, visit the Request Information page at www.claritas.com.