• by Joe Mandese , February 15, 2008

In a move to significantly bolster its antiquated data management and reporting systems, Nielsen Co. Thursday said it acquired Audience Analytics and its Audience Watch software, which would become the primary system for managing and delivering data for Nielsen's next generation of audience measurement services, including Nielsen DigitalPlus, NielsenConnect products, as well as a myriad of data integrations across emerging TV, Internet and mobile platforms.

Mark Cannon, founder and head of Audience Analytics, was named senior vice president-analytics technology, at Nielsen, and will lead the company's advanced applications team.

While Nielsen said the new systems would complement their older data delivery systems, such as NPOWER, some clients saw the move as a recognition that Nielsen's legacy systems were not adequate to the new world of data analysis and delivery, so it had to go outside.

Cannon, a former GE executive, who began incubating Audience Analytics to help GE's NBC Universal unit manage and extract more value and insights out of Nielsen's data, spun it off into a highly regarded business.

Fans say the system is both powerful and easy to use, and enables users to analyze complex respondent-level data on their laptops in a "uniquely understandable way."

Nielsen said the system would enable its advertiser, agency and TV industry clients to process second-by-second clickstream data on-the-fly and with greater ease than its legacy systems.