Nielsen launches online adex service

Singapore - The Nielsen Company has officially announced the introduction of internet ad spend tracking services through the company's Advertising Information Services (AIS).

The new service joins Nielsen Media Research's other advertising expenditure services which covers media such as TV, newspapers, consumer magazines, radio, cinema and outdoor.

Nielsen started tracking online ad spend in January this year which kicked off with companies such as Forbes, Hardware Zone, Microsoft and Yahoo! as well as a number of media agencies onboard. The four main website owners will work with The Nielsen Company by providing advertising spending information on their respective websites every month, with Nielsen to also explore similar partnerships and support from other major industry players in Singapore.

"Online advertising in Asia has reached a critical mass becoming a must for advertisers who want to target the more than 2.5 million Singaporean netizens. Today's announcement is a testament to that growth and the importance of online advertising within the marketing mix," Grant Watts, Microsoft Online Services Group, GM SE Asia said.

"Yahoo and the founding partners are happy to step-up with Nielsen to reduce the blind spots and provide objective clarity on internet spending in this region, which is desperately needed. The partnership is more than a win-win for the founding partners and Nielsen - in the long run it will benefit the industry as a whole," Tom Sipple, MD, Yahoo SE Asia said.

This recent addition of internet ad spend to Nielsen's AIS coverage will complement Nielsen//NetRatings' online advertising measurement system AdRelevance 1, also a Nielsen business.