Nielsen Expanding Digital Ad Ratings Globally

Nielsen today announced at its annual Media & Marketing Presentation in Jakarta, Indonesia plans to expand its digital advertising measurement solution, Digital Ad Ratings. Over the course of the year, Nielsen will expand the solution into eight new markets globally, with the addition of mobile measurement to existing Digital Ad Ratings offerings in a further eight markets.

The company says this significant expansion of the global Digital Ad Ratings footprint will provide a total digital view of campaign audiences across platforms. Since its commercial release in 2011, Digital Ad Ratings has become the industry standard globally for independent campaign measurement with metrics comparable to television.

Nielsen will launch Digital Ad Ratings measurement in eight new markets, including Poland, Turkey, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Ireland and New Zealand. Digital Ad Ratings mobile campaign measurement recently launched in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, India and Mexico, and will become available in Japan within the coming week.

The addition of mobile measurement will enable advertisers and publishers to more effectively maximize their advertising across desktop, smartphones and tablets.

Nielsen's global push of its digital ad ratings comes two months after its main competitor in the measurement of digital campaigns, Comscore Inc acquired Rentrak Corp, which uses set top box data to track TV viewership.

Many in the industry have wondered if the newly merged entity will be a threat to Nielsen, the dominant force in the industry.

Until now, Comscore's ability to measure digital campaigns internationally has been an advantage, said Brian Wieser, a Pivotal Research analyst.

"This is helpful for Nielsen in that sense," he said.