NEWS25 May 2011

Nielsen awarded IAB Australia web measurement task

Asia Pacific New business

AUSTRALIA— IAB Australia has named Nielsen as the country’s exclusive online audience measurement supplier for the next two years, following an eight-month tender process.

Nielsen will provide the IAB with a hybrid measurement system combining panel and server-side data, which the IAB says will allow online to be compared with other media such as television.

The IAB revealed in 2009 that it was working with Nielsen in Australia on a hybrid system, but in 2010 it issued a tender allowing other companies to bid to supply a ‘currency’ measurement system. Nielsen also works with the Audit Bureaux of Australia to verify publishers’ audience figures, which are based on server-side data.

The company saw off competition for the IAB contract from four other bidders – ComScore, ViziSense and joint bids from Roy Morgan Research and Effective Measure and Colmar Brunton and Gemius – to win the deal. Twenty-one companies had initially entered the tendering process.

IAB Australia CEO Paul Fisher (pictured) said: “The announcement today marks the dawn of a new era in online audience measurement and is a significant step towards growing the online advertising industry in Australia to the number one advertising channel… For years, media planners, buyers and marketers have asked for standardised measurement and metrics for online audiences and websites and a media planning and buying currency. Nielsen’s hybrid measurement methodology is a significant and world-leading step towards that goal.”

Nielsen’s appointment was welcomed by Scott McClellan, CEO of the Australian Association of National Advertisers, who said: “This move to an industry-supported standardised currency will allow advertisers, in partnership with their agencies, to better understand the audience online to assist in planning and where to invest their media budget.”

@RESEARCH LIVE

0 Comments