Fresh on the heels of its multi-partner study on in-game ad effectiveness, Nielsen has partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) to develop a measurement system for Web-linked console game advertising.

A new Parks Associates report has forecast game ad spend to reach $2.1 billion in five years - but with brands and agencies clamoring for metrics to fuel that budget boom, The Nielsen Company has taken the lead in delivering comprehensive research by leveraging the expertise of marketing firms, console manufacturers, and game developers.

Through the new agreement, SCEA will supply Nielsen with server side data from PS3 systems across its PLAYSTATION Network, including hours of use, game title and skill level. And while some of it will be demographic, according to an SCEA spokesperson, none will include personally identifiable information. Nielsen will combine that data with metered game usage info from its GamePlay Metrics panels, with the first joint reports due out in the fall.

Although the initial results will enable marketers to calculate CPMs across PS3s and the PLAYSTATION network more effectively, Nielsen ultimately intends to develop a network game advertising measurement system that will foster growth across the industry as a whole.

"For the time being, it's a measurement of the Sony platform," said Jeff Herman, vice president of Nielsen Games and Nielsen Wireless. "But this is an ongoing initiative to not only equivocate gaming with traditional metrics like reach and frequency, but to develop new metrics that help advertisers quantify the immersive nature of games."

"The fact that there are two gaming studies coming out from Nielsen is good news," said Ken Ripley, executive vice president of advertising sales, IGA Worldwide. The in-game advertising company, along with Omnicom's Organic and game developer Electronic Arts has joined with Nielsen for a PC-based study of in-game ad effectiveness. "The research will give everyone the confidence that gaming is a medium that can deliver results."

While the emerging media divisions of agencies like WPP's Mediaedge:cia welcome the effort, they say brands have been pushing for cross-platform measurement. "Advertisers want to know how effective gaming is in comparison to other forms of digital marketing for brand preference, favorability and purchase intent, and they want the data from across all consoles," said Jay Krihak, partner-gaming innovation, MECi.

Although Nielsen is partnering with the console that currently has the smallest US distribution of the three major players (SCEA's PS3, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and Nintendo's Wii), Krihak added that the media measurement company is making excellent inroads into the space. "Nielsen's GamePlay Metrics looks like it will deliver the holistic data that provides a view of the gamer demographic behavior as a whole. It will show advertisers that they don't need to be in the game in order to spend money in the gaming space - there are a host of options."

The first batch of Nielsen's GamePlay Metrics statistics will be available in July, offering US advertisers insight into the popularity and usage of on- and offline games by title, genre and platform, with the addition of the SCEA network data by the fall. Herman added that plans to expand to other consoles will be contingent upon the measurement system's success.

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