Nielsen has overhauled its online ratings system, weeding out inactive internet users from its panel and finding an extra two million online Australians.
The audience measurement company, which will announce the results of its latest round of online ratings tomorrow, has spent the past five months testing the changes to its measurement system, which include changing the eligibility rules for its panel of members, removing inactive internet users and taking into account tablet and mobile internet users.
As a result of the changes, Nielsen has seen an average increase per month of 1.3 million internet users per month, and a total Australian active “online universe” of 17.5 million – two million more than its previous figure.
The changes are the first step for Nielsen in a move towards daily and cross-platform audience measurement.
Stuart Pike, executive director of digital audience measurement at Nielsen, said: “These enhancements are important to ensure we can deliver monthly Nielsen Online Ratings data to the market quicker and be ready over time to move towards daily unique audience data and include panel data for mobile and tablet web consumption.
“The panel make-up has not changed, but the way Nielsen collects and interprets the data has been enhanced to account for the changes in consumer behaviour – away from just computers and towards mobile devices.”
Monique Perry, head of media for Nielsen Australia, added: “The consumer is changing and we have to change and adapt to ensure we are always improving and reflecting the true online audience.”
During the test period, most publishers saw audience gains to five to 10%.
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