In the US, Nielsen has already launched Total Audience Ratings which offers a complete view of content and advertising exposed to audiences across screens such as TV, desktop, mobile, OTT etc. This will be launched in many more markets.

There are three major challenges in digital measurement:

• impressions are measured rather than the audience
• most measurements are post-analysis
• digital metrics cannot be compared with TV.

To address these, Nielsen has launched in India Digital Ad Ratings. It is powered by Big Data. The traditional panel-based solution is not used. In future, the focus will shift from collecting data to connecting data in measurement.

Advertising is measured in forms of 3 Rs — reach. resonance and reaction. Digital Ad Ratings reassures reach. It measures and reports the age and gender of consumes overnight on a dashboard. It monitors the performance of a campaign. It ensures all impressions reach the intended audience. A viral video may do nothing for the brand except being an entertainer. Campaign effectiveness is related to fulfilling brand objectives.