Sony and Nielsen will work together to increase the effectiveness of Nielsen’s video game advertisement monitoring, the companies announced today. Aggregate user data from the Playstation Network will be combined with Nielsen’s People Meter panel to better measure how well-viewed ads inside video games are viewed. Full release after the jump.
FOSTER CITY, Calif. and New York, July 2 PRNewswire — The Nielsen Company and Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) today announced an initiative to develop a measurement system for game network advertising that will help make game software a more competitive advertising platform.
Under the arrangement, SCEA will share with Nielsen game network traffic and other data from its PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) systems and
PLAYSTATION(R)Network, including PlayStation Home. Nielsen will then analyze and benchmark the data to create new measurements for calculating the reach, frequency and effectiveness of game network advertising for the benefit of the entire industry. Usage data provided by SCEA to Nielsen will include enabled first- and third-party software titles accessed through PS3s and PLAYSTATION Network. The initial rollout will begin in the North American market.
Developed and managed by Nielsen, an independent research organization with more than 75 years of experience in audience measurement, this innovative, fully-transparent and highly-accurate measurement system is intended to mitigate the risk to the advertiser and lead to the growth of the industry.
Highlights of the arrangement between Nielsen and SCEA include: — Nielsen will combine the SCEA census data with its own game usage data currently collected from more than 12,000 U.S. television households in its National People Meter panel to generate a more integrated view of usage and advertising performance. — Advertisers and agencies will be able to calculate CPMs across PS3s and PLAYSTATION Network with greater detail and accuracy. — This fall, Nielsen will begin monthly reporting on, and ranking of, audience statistics and user activity from across PLAYSTATION Network as part of its syndicated GamePlay Metrics measurement product, which is scheduled to launch in July 2007. — Nielsen is also working with SCEA to identify server data and determine media data formats that will greatly enhance SCEA’s capabilities to deliver the right ad to the right person at the right time across PLAYSTATION Network.
The initial results of this joint effort are expected to be released later this year.
“SCEA and Nielsen intend to introduce a new kind of discipline and rigor to the measurement of game advertising that will create enormous value for advertisers, game publishers and game players alike,” said Phil Rosenberg, senior vice president, SCEA. “Working closely with Nielsen, which has a global footprint that is well-aligned with our own, we look forward to clearly demonstrating the effectiveness and reach of both dynamic and static ad placement within games.”
“SCEA’s contribution of its game census data, combined with Nielsen’s data sets, represents a milestone in our efforts to bring greater legitimacy and accuracy to game advertising measurement,” said Jeff Herrmann, vice president of Nielsen Games. “By marrying SCEA’s server-side data traffic with our standard ratings metrics, we will be able to provide advertisers with a much more robust picture of the impact of their game network advertising and of those consumers who are actually playing games, all while preserving consumer privacy.”
Today, Nielsen collects information on the general usage of game systems, connected and otherwise, through its National People Meter sample of more than 12,000 U.S. television households. At launch in July, Nielsen GamePlay Metrics will provide, for the first time, metered game usage and demographic information by game title, genre and platform that provides new insights into the popularity and usage of games among U.S. consumers — data that can better inform the buying and selling of in- and around-game advertising.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information including mobile media (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and online information. The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
About Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. continues to redefine the entertainment lifestyle with its PlayStation(R) and PS one(R) game console, the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, the PSP(R) (PlayStation(R)Portable) system, the ground-breaking PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) computer entertainment system and its online and network services the PLAYSTATION(R)Network and PLAYSTATION(R)Store.
Recognized as the undisputed industry leader, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. markets the PlayStation family of products and develops, publishes, markets and distributes software for the PS one game console, the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and the PSP system for the North American market. Based in Foster City, Calif. Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. serves as headquarters for all North American operations and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment.
“PLAYSTATION”, “PlayStation”, “PS one” and “PSP” are registered trademarks and “PS3” is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.