Commitments and Contingencies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Minimum Annual Payments under Nielsen's Purchase Obligations

The amounts presented below represent the minimum annual payments under Nielsen’s purchase obligations that have initial or remaining non-cancelable terms in excess of one year. These purchase obligations include data processing, building maintenance, equipment purchasing, photocopiers, land and mobile telephone service, computer software and hardware maintenance, and outsourcing.

	For the Years Ending December 31,
(IN MILLIONS)	2017		2018		2019		2020		2021		Thereafter		Total
Operating leases	$	85	$	69	$	53	$	35	$	26	$	73	$	341
Other contractual obligations(a)		289		212		153		106		9		6		775
Total	$	374	$	281	$	206	$	141	$	35	$	79	$	1,116

(a) Other contractual obligations represent obligations under agreement, which are not unilaterally cancelable by Nielsen, are legally enforceable and specify fixed or minimum amounts or quantities of goods or services at fixed or minimum prices. Nielsen generally requires purchase orders for vendor and third party spending. The amounts presented above represent the minimum future annual services covered by purchase obligations including data processing, building maintenance, equipment purchasing, photocopiers, land and mobile telephone service, computer software and hardware maintenance, and outsourcing. Nielsen’s remaining commitments as of December 31, 2016, under the outsourced services agreement with TCS have been included above based on the Annual Commitment minimum required payments.