Segments

3 Months Ended

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Dec. 31, 2012

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segments

12. Segments

The Company aligns its operating segments in order to conform to management’s internal reporting structure, which is reflective of service offerings by industry. Management aggregates such operating segments into three reporting segments: what consumers buy (“Buy”), consisting principally of market research information and analytical services; what consumers watch (“Watch”), consisting principally of television, online and mobile audience and advertising measurement and corresponding analytics and Expositions, consisting principally of trade shows, events and conferences.

Corporate consists principally of unallocated items such as certain facilities and infrastructure costs as well as intersegment eliminations. Certain corporate costs, other than those described above, including those related to selling, finance, legal, human resources, and information technology systems, are considered operating costs and are allocated to the Company’s segments based on either the actual amount of costs incurred or on a basis consistent with the operations of the underlying segment. Information with respect to the operations of each of Nielsen’s business segments is set forth below based on the nature of the services offered and geographic areas of operations.

Business Segment Information

(IN MILLIONS)	Buy		Watch		Expositions		Corporate			Total
Three Months Ended March 31, 2013
Revenues	$	825	$	494	$	57	$	—		$	1,376
Depreciation and amortization	$	51	$	68	$	6	$	1		$	126
Restructuring charges	$	12	$	7	$	—	$	16		$	35
Stock-based compensation expense	$	3	$	2	$	—	$	5		$	10
Operating income/(loss)	$	53	$	122	$	26	$	(30	)	$	171
Total assets as of March 31, 2013	$	6,705	$	6,696	$	752	$	261		$	14,414
(IN MILLIONS)	Buy		Watch		Expositions		Corporate			Total
Three Months Ended March 31, 2012
Revenues	$	799	$	474	$	61	$	—		$	1,334
Depreciation and amortization	$	53	$	68	$	6	$	2		$	129
Restructuring charges	$	31	$	5	$	—	$	1		$	37
Stock-based compensation expense	$	2	$	2	$	—	$	4		$	8
Operating income/(loss)	$	35	$	111	$	30	$	(18	)	$	158
Total assets as of December 31, 2012	$	6,885	$	6,706	$	758	$	234		$	14,583

16. Segments

The Company aligns its operating segments in order to conform to management’s internal reporting structure, which is reflective of service offerings by industry. Management aggregates such operating segments into three reporting segments: what consumers buy (“Buy”), consisting principally of market research information and analytical services; what consumers watch (“Watch”), consisting principally of television, online and mobile audience and advertising measurement and corresponding analytics and Expositions, consisting principally of trade shows, events and conferences.

Corporate consists principally of unallocated items such as certain facilities and infrastructure costs as well as intersegment eliminations. Certain corporate costs, other than those described above, including those related to selling, finance, legal, human resources, and information technology systems, are considered operating costs and are allocated to the Company’s segments based on either the actual amount of costs incurred or on a basis consistent with the operations of the underlying segment. Information with respect to the operations of each of Nielsen’s business segments is set forth below based on the nature of the services offered and geographic areas of operations.

Business Segment Information

	Year Ended December 31,
(IN MILLIONS)	2012			2011			2010
Revenues
Buy	$	3,420		$	3,409		$	3,108
Watch		1,987			1,919			1,827
Expositions		183			179			168
Total	$	5,590		$	5,507		$	5,103
	Year Ended December 31,
(IN MILLIONS)	2012			2011			2010
Depreciation and amortization
Buy	$	208		$	198		$	202
Watch		274			294			313
Expositions		23			25			27
Corporate and eliminations		8			7			12
Total	$	513		$	524		$	554
	Year Ended December 31,
(IN MILLIONS)	2012			2011			2010
Restructuring charges
Buy	$	60		$	57		$	27
Watch		18			15			15
Expositions		(1	)		2			2
Corporate and eliminations		7			10			17
Total	$	84		$	84		$	61
	Year Ended December 31,
(IN MILLIONS)	2012			2011			2010
Stock-based compensation expense
Buy	$	10		$	8		$	7
Watch		7			5			3
Expositions		—			—			—
Corporate and eliminations		16			13			8
Total	$	33		$	26		$	18
	Year Ended December 31,
(IN MILLIONS)	2012			2011			2010
Operating income/(loss)
Buy	$	409		$	432		$	414
Watch		547			464			368
Expositions		72			60			49
Corporate and eliminations		(64	)		(158	)		(100	)
Total	$	964		$	798		$	731

(IN MILLIONS)	December 31, 2012		December 31, 2011
Total assets
Buy	$	6,885	$	6,782
Watch		6,706		6,560
Expositions		758		794
Corporate and eliminations(1)		234		336
Total	$	14,583	$	14,472

(1) Includes deferred financing costs of $60 million and $68 million as of December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

	Year ended December 31,
(IN MILLIONS)	2012		2011		2010
Capital expenditures
Buy	$	171	$	178	$	156
Watch		179		182		164
Expositions		5		7		6
Corporate and eliminations		3		—		8
Total	$	358	$	367	$	334

Geographic Segment Information

(IN MILLIONS)	Revenues(1)		Operating Income/ (Loss)			Long- lived Assets(2)
2012
United States	$	2,820	$	529		$	9,540
North and South America, excluding the United States		640		170			1,313
The Netherlands		39		4			8
Other Europe, Middle East & Africa		1,353		178			1,097
Asia Pacific		738		83			509
Total	$	5,590	$	964		$	12,467
(IN MILLIONS)	Revenues(1)		Operating Income/ (Loss)			Long- lived Assets(2)
2011
United States	$	2,677	$	425		$	9,531
North and South America, excluding the United States		625		184			1,212
The Netherlands		43		(90	)		3
Other Europe, Middle East & Africa		1,447		184			1,074
Asia Pacific		715		95			505
Total	$	5,507	$	798		$	12,325

(IN MILLIONS)	Revenues(1)		Operating Income/ (Loss)
2010
United States	$	2,557	$	297
North and South America, excluding the United States		551		157
The Netherlands		41		(5	)
Other Europe, Middle East & Africa		1,330		191
Asia Pacific		624		91
Total	$	5,103	$	731

(1) Revenues are attributed to geographic areas based on the location of customers.

(2) Long-lived assets include property, plant and equipment, goodwill and other intangible assets.