In the ongoing quest to provide an online measurement comparable to the way other media are measured, Nielsen is expected to unveil the new product next week at Advertising Week, and will conduct a test of the service soon. The product would offer advertisers and web publishers a new stream of data to improve audience measurement for online advertising. The new stream of data would be an “online GRP,” WSJ said. Gross Rating Points measures the reach and frequency of an ad, a method that has been used by the TV business for decades. Having an online GRP has the potential to give marketers a way to do apple-to-apple comps of media.
As with TV ratings, the new service requires the participation of web portals and other sites. So far, Nielsen has lined up Facebook as a participant, according to a WSJ report. Other websites are expected to join as it moves out of the testing phase. Nielsen is already working with P&G and Starcom MediaVest to test the new research.
To get the new data, Nielsen will blend its demographic panel data with information from participating online companies about the people seeing a particular online ad, said the story. Information might indicate the age group and sex of a particular Web surfer and maybe even location. Only anonymous data will be given to Nielsen for the service, according to several people WSJ interviewed.
While Nielsen declined comment to RBR-TVBR on the story for now, spokesperson Gary Holmes did mention they will have more to say about it later.
ComScore has been providing GRP data for online ads but advertisers say there is need for more competition in the area as it will drive improved measurement. ComScore tracks by age, sex and household income, among other things.
