Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (USD $) In Millions, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2012
Income Statement [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 1,376	$ 1,334
Cost of revenues, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	593	564
Selling, general and administrative expenses, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	451	447
Depreciation and amortization	126	129
Restructuring charges	35	37
Operating income	171	157
Interest income	1	1
Interest expense	(83)	(106)
Foreign currency exchange transaction losses, net	(12)	(9)
Other expense, net	(12)	(6)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes and equity in net loss of affiliates	65	37
Provision for income taxes	27	8
Equity in net loss of affiliates	1	2
Income from continuing operations	37	27
Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax	3	2
Net income	34	25
Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	1
Net income attributable to Nielsen stockholders	$ 35	$ 25
Net income per share of common stock, basic and diluted
Income from continuing operations	$ 0.10	$ 0.07
Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax	$ (0.01)	$ 0.00
Net income attributable to Nielsen stockholders	$ 0.09	$ 0.07
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding, basic	370,583,217	360,881,693
Dilutive shares of common stock	4,973,804	4,839,365
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding, diluted	375,557,021	365,721,058
Dividends declared per common share	$ 0.16