IAB extends Nielsen contract without tender
The Interactive Advertising Bureau has announced it has extended its contract with Nielsen as its preferred provider of online audience measurement without the contract going to tender.
The industry body also announced that the interim CEO Tony Prentice has stepped down and will be replaced by IAB director of regulatory affairs Samantha Yorke, who takes the title of acting CEO.
IAB research director Gai Le Roy said the extension came after a “thorough review” of Nielsen’s contract.
“IAB Australia’s Measurement Council has conducted a thorough review and come to the conclusion that Nielsen is still best placed to provide online audience measurement services in Australia,” said Le Roy.
“The hybrid data (system) has only been in market since 2011 and we felt it needed more time in market and probably the initial contract was slightly short in terms of giving that a chance to develop and get uptake it the market.”
Le Roy also told Mumbrella that the IAB was concerned that there were no other audience measurement companies in a position to take on the contract.
“Another reason is that we felt there weren’t any other providers, at the moment, ready to jump in immediately to take over,” she said.
According to the IAB the 18 month extension of the deed on the original contract will not change the contract itself although there will be new performance indicators introduced including product delivery times, adoption, education and training.
Nielsen will also release a more detailed mobile device volume data for Market Intelligence on May 1. This data will combines the current Market Intelligence and Mobile Market Intelligence to allow clients to examine the distribution of devices consuming a website.
“With the explosion of mobile usage, one of the IAB’s key priorities is to identify a mobile audience measurement offering or offerings that are affordable, nimble and can be integrated into other media measurement systems to provide true, unduplicated cross platform and cross media audience data,” said Le Roy.
Nielsen’s original contract with IAB Australia was for a two-year term and followed an exhaustive eight-month tender and review process in which a number of companies tendered for the contract.
The IAB began a search for a new CEO in December after the previous IAB head Paul Fisher to take up a role at Nielsen as the managing director of media in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
Mumbrella understands that the search for a replacement is “well advanced”.
Nic Christensen
