ASIA-PACIFIC – JUNE 2011 – IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Australia has announced that The Nielsen Company has been appointed the sole and exclusive preferred supplier for the provision of online audience measurement services in Australia for an initial two-year term. The appointment follows an eight month tender process participated in by Colmar Brunton with Gemius, ComScore, The Nielsen Company, Roy Morgan Research with Effective Measure and Vizisense. The review process was strongly supported by the MFA (Media Federation of Australia) and AANA (Australian Association of National Advertisers) and overseen by TressCox Lawyers.
With the endorsement of Nielsen Online Ratings, IAB Australia is identifying people-based metrics, as opposed to browser-based, as the best and preferred online audience measurement system for the Australian online advertising industry. This will allow online to be measured comparably with other media in addition to providing online reach and frequency analyses comparable with traditional media schedules; and will set a platform for true cross-media measurement with other channels and devices, including mobile devices.
IAB Australia will now reconvene its Measurement Council to work with The Nielsen Company on the timings of delivery and the extension of measurement process to incorporate mobile including tablets and smart phones, video and cross channel engagement.
The announcement 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, in excess of $4 billion per annum,” said Paul Fisher, CEO of IAB Australia.
Steve Hasker, President of Nielsen’s global media products said: “The appointment of Nielsen for online audience measurement is an important step for the online market, reflecting the maturity and sophistication that the sector has reached.”
Scott McClellan, CEO of AANA, said: “Awarding the preferred supplier status to the Nielsen Company allows a set of criteria that is accepted by advertisers, agencies and media, to guide audience measurement in digital media as it evolves further in this rapidly moving space, developed with an eye toward the cross-platform metrics everyone seeks.”
Australia is amongst the first countries to complete a formal tender and technical review process of hybrid measurement methodology and is the first to formally announce, through this process, an endorsed supplier of this methodology.
