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.
“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.