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Nielsen/NetRatingscontinues its race with relevance today with the announcement of its new internet and mobile measurement services -- Nielsen Mobile and Nielsen Online.
Nielsen Mobile is the brainchild of its recent acquisition of Telephia, designed to deploy its "unique measurement tools and large-scale, integrated consumer panels to understand and interpret the behaviors, attitudes and experiences of mobile consumers." We're pretty sure that's marketing speak for 'monitor a panel of mobile users' patterns of use.' We've tapped Nielsen Mobile's spokesperson to confirm our suspicions, but we haven't heard back yet.
Oh, and Nielsen Online? From what we can tell, it's a mashup of its existing NetRatings and BuzzMetrics services. The nifty bonus is that it's slated to track "independent measurement and analysis of online audiences, advertising, video, blogs, consumer-generated media, word-of-mouth, commerce and consumer behavior," according to the company release.
This step up comes at a good time for Nielsen, as competitors like Compete continue to inch their way into the market. However, the proof will ultimately be in the metrics. Even with Compete's growth, there are still a number of people who question the accuracy of its results. If Nielsen's new tools prove to be as flexible as the content they're designed to track (and fundamentally accurate), then it may be able to secure a solid foothold in a rapidly changing marketplace. We'll see if that's the case after we some of the Nielsen Online/Nielsen Mobile metrics.
__Update: __Nielsen Mobile's spokesperson got back to us regarding their measurement tools. As predicted, they have a survey-based tool. Additionally, they employ a "bill-based panel," which is basically 35,000 mobile phone users who allow Nielsen Mobile to analyze their wireless bills for data usage.
