Foster City, Calif. — Nielsen, the media tracking agency, and Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) said today they will collaborate on the development of a measurement system for video game network advertising that will help make gaming software a more competitive advertising platform.
Under the arrangement, SCEA will share with Nielsen game network traffic and other data from its PlayStation3 (PS3) systems and PlayStationNetwork, 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.
Usage data provided by SCEA to Nielsen will include enabled first- and third-party software titles accessed through PS3s and PlayStation Network, the companies said. The initial rollout will begin in the North American market.
Nielsen said its system is a “fully transparent and highly accurate measurement system” that is intended to mitigate the risk to the advertiser and lead to the growth of the industry.
Under the agreement: 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.
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 said it is also working with SCEA to identify server data and determine media data formats that will facilitate SCEA’s ability to deliver the right ad to the right person at the right time across the gaming network.
The initial results of this joint effort are expected to be released later this year.
