• by Wayne Friedman , January 7, 2019

Hearing the outcry for inclusive TV consumption, Nielsen says its cross-measurement service for advertising inventory will now count OTT viewing and mobile viewing, including YouTube.

For the first time, Nielsen will include mobile audiences within its Total Ad Ratings, given a new expanded deal with YouTube’s owner Google.

In addition, Total Ad Ratings will now include OTT viewing from Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings service.

Nielsen has had a deal to include YouTube ads in its Digital Ad Ratings.

Nielsen’s Total Ad Ratings includes measurement of viewers watching ads on television, smartphones, tablets or computer. as well as viewing across any combination of those platforms.

Total Ad Ratings data comes from Nielsen’s national panel and its Digital Ad Ratings. Nielsen says Total Ad Ratings are the market's only person-based ad measurement across platforms.

TV executives have long complained that Nielsen lacks complete measurement of OTT viewing in many Nielsen TV measuring media products.

Amanda Tarpey, senior vice president, product leadership of digital, Nielsen, stated: “Whether consumers are streaming from their TV or their smartphones, Nielsen will be able to reflect their ad viewership and incrementality as part of its audience reporting.”