Reuters Group Plc and the University of Michigan said on Wednesday they signed a deal for Reuters as the exclusive distributor of the university's monthly survey on US consumer sentiments. The agreement will become effective in January 2007 and allow Reuters the exclusive right to distribute the survey's headline consumer readings to news and media outlets.
In-depth analyses of the data will be available to Reuters' customers, according to the company and the university. Financial details were not disclosed.
The survey will be renamed the "Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers." The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey, which began in 1946, is one of the most closely followed private economic reports in the financial markets. The survey provides a gauge of consumer sentiment about changes in the economy. Companies pay an annual subscription fee to obtain the University of Michigan data each month.
"This model will provide greater transparency to the findings of the survey," said Diane Swanbrow, spokeswoman at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, which conducts the survey.
The agreement with Reuters will also cover the institute's annual cost of conducting the survey, estimated at $1 million, according to Swanbrow. For Reuters, this agreement is the latest move for the London-based financial news and information company to add exclusive content, part of its "Core Plus" growth plan.