DMMA said the tender process attracted interest from “a number of global suppliers”. Key criteria were for a tag-based audience measurement service and media planning tool, and the ability to implement a recruited audience panel to track activity beyond DMMA member sites.

With the commencement of the new contract, the DMMA said it will now be able to provide data to Telmar, South Africa’s predominant strategic media planning software, to ensure that digital audience figures are presented to media planners at the earliest stage of the planning process, to put it on a par with more traditional media.

Josh Adler (pictured), who was head of the tendering process at the DMMA, said: “I know that change is difficult, but the rewards for our industry in this case will be material. We’ve significantly brought down the costs of measuring South African online activity and with our new data sharing deals, will see our data influencing decisions to push more and more money online.”

Nielsen did not confirm whether it had been in the bidding for the new contract, but said in a statement: “Nielsen remains committed to the industry for the long term, to delivering the highest quality audience measurement available in South Africa and to helping companies understand what South African consumers watch, read, listen to and interact with as well as what they buy and the vital link between the two.”