Nielsen introduces ‘most accurate’ online analytics tool

The Online Campaign Ratings (OCR) launches today (16 October) and has been tested by both FMCG companies.

The company claims advertisers will be able to use the system to either save an average 11% of their marketing budget or improve campaign efficiency by an average of 14%, following a study of 30 campaigns using the format.

It works by combining data from Nielsen’s panels with anonymous data from online data providers. The measurement firm says the analytics tool will provide reach, frequency and Gross Rating Point (GRP) for online advertising campaigns. GRP is the percentage of the target audience reached multiplied by the frequency which it is viewed.

The system can measure campaigns of “practically any size”, according to the company, adding that campaigns with as a few as 15,000 impressions have already been successfully measured with “extremely high accuracy.”

Similar online measurement systems and ad formats such as Facebook’s Reach Generator, which was shut down last month, have been criticised by some for putting an emphasis on scale and not being able to measure accurately smaller campaigns.

Siobhan Crowe, global digital advertising manager at Reckitt Benckiser, says: “This is a great opportunity to understand who has seen our advertising online.These metrics will allow us to better understand the efficiency of our digital advertising campaigns.”

David Gosen, managing director for digital in Europe at Nielsen, says: “In today’s challenging business world where ROI is vital, this new system delivers both a well-established metric in the form of GRPs and in-flight campaign optimisation.

“OCR will start to impact the online advertising market in the UK straight away. But it will also continue the Nielsen journey towards Cross-Platform Campaign Ratings into Europe to cover the measurement of both TV and online.”

OMD and PHD are among the first media agencies to sign up to use the service.