Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (USD $) In Millions, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013
Revenues	$ 1,594	$ 1,386	$ 3,083	$ 2,705
Cost of revenues, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	677	580	1,319	1,159
Selling, general and administrative expenses, exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below	482	434	971	876
Depreciation and amortization	145	126	286	247
Restructuring charges	13	8	37	43
Operating income	277	238	470	380
Interest income	1		2	1
Interest expense	(78)	(73)	(155)	(151)
Foreign currency exchange transaction losses, net	(6)	(4)	(33)	(16)
Other expense, net	(45)		(48)	(12)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes and equity in net income of affiliates	149	161	236	202
Provision for income taxes	(74)	(46)	(107)	(64)
Equity in net income of affiliates	1	4	2	3
Income from continuing operations	76	119	131	141
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax		307		319
Net income	76	426	131	460
Net income/(loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	2		(1)	(1)
Net income attributable to Nielsen stockholders	$ 74	$ 426	$ 132	$ 461
Net income per share of common stock, basic
Income from continuing operations	$ 0.19	$ 0.32	$ 0.35	$ 0.38
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax		$ 0.82		$ 0.85
Net income attributable to Nielsen stockholders	$ 0.19	$ 1.14	$ 0.35	$ 1.23
Net income per share of common stock, diluted
Income from continuing operations	$ 0.19	$ 0.31	$ 0.34	$ 0.38
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax		$ 0.80		$ 0.84
Net income attributable to Nielsen stockholders	$ 0.19	$ 1.12	$ 0.34	$ 1.22
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding, basic	379,755,766	376,580,064	379,386,349	373,598,206
Dilutive shares of common stock	5,601,047	4,979,326	5,624,779	4,844,227
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding, diluted	385,356,813	381,559,390	385,011,128	378,442,433
Dividends declared per common share	$ 0.25	$ 0.16	$ 0.45	$ 0.32