Nielsen has retained the IAB digital measurement contract following a tender process.
Starting on January 1st 2015 for a three year period, the contract will see a comprehensive overhaul of the existing digital audience measurement system, and move towards cross platform measurement capabilities.
The IAB and Nielsen will bring in smartphone and tablet ratings in Q1 2015; cross-digital ratings for desktops, smartphones and tablets in July 2015 and daily ratings for digital content – including video – in early 2016.
The IAB Technical Review Group, headed by independent chair Ian Muir, found that Nielsen was the preferred candidate by a "significant margin", with its proposal said to provide the "most accurate, robust and credible" measurement data for Australian digital audiences and websites.
In line with much market speculation, Nielsen beat GfK which was apart of the final two in the tender process. Roy Morgan and ComScore were knocked out of the process earlier, despite Roy Morgan working with Telstra on its pitch to land the business.
“After a long and rigorous process we are thrilled to finally announce Nielsen as our measurement provider,” said Alice Manners, CEO of IAB Australia. “The appointment firmly places Australia at the forefront of digital audience measurement globally and will help IAB ensure our industry remains transparent and healthy in years to come.
“Our industry has experienced considerable growth in the last couple of years to reach 37% of total advertising expenditure this year and I have no doubt that this growth has been supported by the quality of digital audience measurement. With the rollout of the new system, I see this growth soaring with publishers able to report on their complete audience across all digital platforms and agencies being able to better understand how audiences are moving across these platform,” said Manners.
The announcement brings to a close the IAB’s seven month review process, which kicked off in April, for a digital audience measurement solution to provide robust market data that accurately represents the ever changing digital media landscape.
Several major service improvements will be delivered throughout the contract. it aims to offer additional reporting levels and increased network reporting to provide deeper and more granular local reporting and more flexibility across all aspects of reporting.
Nielsen will work closely with IAB Australia’s Measurement Council to ensure it delivers the highest standard of measurement data for the digital advertising industry.
Monique Perry, head of Nielsen’s media industry group in Australia, said: “The entire team here at Nielsen fought hard for this. We are committed to innovative product development, have a passionate client service team and strong technical support. We are ecstatic to be chosen.”
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