Bureau of Broadcast Measurement
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The Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, or BBM, is an audience measurement organization for Canadian television and radio broadcasting. In radio, BBM is the main provider of ratings services; in television it competes against the American company A.C. Nielsen.
BBM was established on May 11, 1944 as a division of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. In 1964, it became the first ratings service in the world to introduce computerized sample selection.
BBM uses a diary-based system for tracking radio and television audience habits. The company had reached a deal with Nielsen in 1985 to use Nielsen's people meter system, but that deal fell through and in 1989 Nielsen launched people meters in Canada without BBM's participation.