Nielsen Rebrands Online Ratings As Digital, Includes Mobile: Unclear How It Will Disclose Accreditation

In a move that seems to reposition itself from its original intent of measuring the audiences of online advertising, Nielsen this morning announced a rebranding of its fledgling Online Campaign Ratings service as the Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings. “The new name better describes Nielsen’s total digital view, inclusive of mobile,” Nielsen said in a statement explaining the name change, but the term digital likely could be used to position it across other digital advertising platforms as they emerge.

One potential problem about wrapping all digital advertising ratings under the single identity is the fact that the service was originally audited and accredited by the Media Rating Council only for online display and video advertising -- not mobile, which has been integrated to the service after the fact.

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“The enhancements we’re making to Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings are about simplicity, and reflect Nielsen’s ability to grow and adapt our services to meet the needs of clients,” Megan Clarken, EVP, global product leadership, Nielsen said in a statement, adding: “As part of our ongoing effort to measure Total Audience, we will continue to evolve our offerings to provide the most accurate picture of the consumer, wherever, whenever and however they view content.”

Nielsen did not indicate how it would inform users of the data, which parts are accredited and which are not, but noted that it already is adding enhanced analytics features to the integrated service, including an option to “view new, expanded demographics from Experian and Nielsen,” and has beefed up the way users can access and visualize the data to make it “more intuitive and insightful.”

Nielsen said the new demographic breaks would including data from Nielsen and Experian, but did not explain how they are integrated or fused. The breaks include audience segments based on household income, race/ethnicity, family size and education level, as well as various Nielsen segmentation modeling systems.

2 comments about "Nielsen Rebrands Online Ratings As Digital, Includes Mobile: Unclear How It Will Disclose Accreditation".
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  1. Nicholas Schiavone from Nicholas P. Schiavone, LLC, April 1, 2015 at 6:23 p.m.

    "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ... ." William Shakespeare anticipated situations like these well ("Romeo and Juliet"), however, in our 2015 drama there is no love lost.

    Please note: Credit to “MediaPost” for noting the MRC Accreditation complications in this matter. No other journalistic enterprise, like “Advertising Age” or “The NYTimes” appears to understand these critical industry issues involving billions of dollars as well as MediaPost Publications.

    One hopes this does not foreshadow a less than careful approach on Nielsen's part to vetting their complete NPX proposal with the MRC, E&Y and all national clients to add Local Set Meter Households to the National People Meter Panel. Nielsen's NPX Proposal reminds one of Macbeth words(Act 5, scene 5, page 2): "It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing."

    Nothing but trouble, that is.

    Onwards & Upwards.
    Nicholas P. Schiavone
    Nicholas P. Schiavone, LLC

  2. Nicholas Schiavone from Nicholas P. Schiavone, LLC, April 2, 2015 at 12:28 p.m.

    Every Nielsen clarification causes the same response:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFods1KSWsQ

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