Nielsen//NetRatings has launched a measurement service for digital audio video content. SiteCensus Streaming aims to capture accurate data of online audio and video.

Nielsen Unveils Rich Media Service Metrics

The reason for creating the site, according to Nielsen, is increased broadband adoption and the growing popularity of watching video and audio content online along with providing accurate information to businesses and advertisers.

The SiteCensus Streaming will measure unique viewers, stream views, average stream duration, geographic location of stream viewers and pages from which streams originated.

Megan Clarken, VP SiteCensus & Project Management, Nielsen//NetRatings, says, “In developing measurement for online streaming, we faced various challenges, like the great variety of media formats, significant differences in stream content detail available and above all the lack of a standard method in categorizing content and identifying the source of the stream.”

The SiteCensus Streaming service works by tagging streams with a code. The code triggers a stream in the viewer’s browser to ping the NetRatings server with details of the stream and the site it came from. This provides counts of the streamed video with clear detail.

Forrest Didier, Nielsen//NetRatings Managing Director Asia Pacific and Latin America, said, “This new service exemplifies the company’s ongoing commitment to innovation and transparency in data collection and reporting.”

“Forecasts for significant increases in online digital media advertising expenditure have not only instilled the need for independent, accurate and comprehensive measurement of a site’s streaming traffic but moreover, benchmarking of streaming activity at market level”

Nielsen//NetRatings has plans to incorporate demographic data into SiteCensus Streaming and will create a service called VideoCensus. The VideoCensus product will be launch in the U.S. later this year.