Indiantelevision.com Team

(10 March 2008 4:00 pm)

MUMBAI: US media research company Nielsen and Ad-ID, a JV between the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), have announced that they are working together to incorporate Advertising Digital Identification (Ad-ID) coding into Nielsen’s commercial tracking system, KeepingTrac.

This allows advertisers to verify that their commercials ran the previous day according to their media plans.

Ad-ID, the ad industry’s web-based, complete code system, includes a database where information about each commercial asset can be entered. Under the ISCI coding system that Ad-ID replaces, advertisers, agencies and television stations had to enter information about each commercial into many industry systems. Ad-ID establishes one, central database that brings consistency to asset identification and enables the digital exchange of information throughout the industry.

KeepingTrac will leverage the Ad-ID database to allow advertisers to encode their TV commercials with minimal effort and track the performance of their media campaigns.

The joint effort by Nielsen and Ad-ID is the first of its kind since Ad-ID was launched in 2003, and aims to further automate the process of monitoring an advertiser’s television campaigns. Using KeepingTrac and Ad-ID, an advertiser can get next-day feedback to ensure their commercials are airing as ordered, adhering to their buying guidelines and achieving their Gross Rating Point (GRP) goals.

Ad-ID co-CEO Mike Donahue says, “Nielsen’s KeepingTrac is a step in the direction of improved accountability and transparency in the media industry. This integration between Nielsen and Ad-ID is the first of many partnerships that will improve workflow and enable innovation.”

Nielsen SVP of new business development and strategy Terrie Brennan says, “Incorporating Ad-ID coding into KeepingTrac eliminates the number of steps necessary to issue and track a commercial. This significantly increases the value of KeepingTrac to our clients, who are increasingly requiring greater accountability, faster turnaround and operational efficiencies from the industry.”

Introduced last year, KeepingTrac combines Nielsen ratings data with next-day confirmation of television commercial airings, allowing advertisers to monitor whether or not their ads are reaching target audiences and running as directed. KeepingTrac‘s DemoWatch tool enables advertisers to monitor the demographic composition of their advertising audiences, and ensure their campaign is not reaching any unintended audiences, such as children or teens.