Nielsen Launches Cross-Platform Ratings in UK

Nielsen has officially rolled out its Cross-Platform Campaign Ratings tool in the UK, offering advertisers and agencies a means to integrate media planning and measurement across television and the Internet.

The tool, which was launched in the US last year, reports on campaign audience showing how many people of each age group and gender are seeing ads across TV and online - either combined, with double-counting removed, or for either platform on its own.

In the UK, the tool combines the Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings solution with TV data from UK TV ratings body BARB, with results available by reach, frequency, GRPs (gross rating points), unique audience and impressions.

Prior to today's official roll-out, Nielsen conducted beta tests of the tool over the summer with a selection of brands, agencies, publishers and ad networks. Early findings show that there is a variance in 'incremental reach' - the additional people who see a campaign online who would not have seen it on TV, which is affected by the age and gender of the desired audience. The tests also found that the bigger the size of a TV campaign, the lower the levels of incremental reach online.

UK MD for Digital, James Oates, comments: 'Consumers are increasingly living platform-agnostic lives, and all of us in advertising need to adapt to this. Creating a way to reach, measure and monetise inventory across screens and platforms advances the industry towards a high-calibre, seamless standard - one that will provide new opportunities for advertisers, agencies and publishers, crucially allowing a mutual exchange of value between buyer and seller.'

Web site: www.nielsen.com .