UK and Australia set for network-based mobile ratings

The association, in partnership with online audience researcher ComScore, won an award from the Mobile Entertainment Forum for a feasibility study conducted earlier this year in the UK, and is hoping to roll the system out commercially later this year.

It has now also signed an agreement with the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association to introduce the measurement system there, according to The Australian, although deals have not yet been signed with network operators.

John Butterworth, chief executive of the AIMIA, described a aystem based on data from operators’ gateways as the “nirvana” for mobile measurement, but said that the huge amount of data about people’s usage that operators potentially have access to meant there were “massive privacy issues” to be overcome.

ComScore said of its UK system, which will be complemented with panel-based demographic information, uses “real, anonymised, aggregated mobile audience data”, and offers “a measurement process for mobile browsing which respects the privacy of mobile users and provides rich planning information for the media and advertising communities”.