Nielsen error leads to nine months of over-reporting

The audience measurement company had over-reported figures for Microsoft and Ninemsn video streams since July 2013, according to a story on Australian media news site mUmBRELLA. The story quotes the following statement from the company: “Nielsen regrets this error and have implemented additional process improvements to ensure this is not repeated.”

A spokesman for Australian digital media company Mi9, which is behind Ninemsn, has apparently stated that the company does not use the Nielsen rankings to sell its ad inventory, but reinforced calls for a consistent measurement system for online video in the industry.

This is not the first time Nielsen has come under criticism for alleged discrepancies in online and video numbers. The latest news comes at a difficult time for Nielsen as the Australian Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) will soon begin an open tender process for its preferred provider of online audience measurement. Nielsen has held this contract since 2011.