Nielsen Picks Up Vizu to Strengthen Ad Reporting Services

Nielsen’s cross-platform campaign measurement service, in beta since April, may be getting a boost with the company’s Vizu acquisition, announced today. Vizu’s ad measurement and optimization technology will be incorporated into the aforementioned service that Nielsen has been developing with media planning and buying company GroupM [1].

Vizu [2], based in San Francisco, has 60 employees and brings a formidable stable of clients, including Walmart, McDonald's, Ford, Hilton, Warner Bros. and other brands. 

Nielsen's cross-platform campaign measurement service aims to help brands see how TV and online ads perform in concert, measuring total and overlapped reach and frequency of campaigns. Digital-only marketers who use Nielsen’s online campaign ratings could also see improved features as Vizu’s tools get plugged in.

Brand clients say the 11-month-old [3] online ratings system works, according to Scott McKinley, evp of ad effectiveness at New York-based Nielsen. But they want to see even better results, and that’s partly why his company pulled the trigger on Vizu.

“Every action we take, whether it’s an acquisition or a partnership or an investment in a product, is driven directly from client feedback,” McKinley said. “This is very much driven by a consistent and loud call from the advertising community to better understand online in the [marketing] mix.”

Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.