LONDON – Nielsen has begun the UK roll-out of its system for combining TV and online ad ratings, with several advertisers, agencies and publishers aboard.

Already live in the US, Cross-Platform Campaign Ratings (XCR) will, in the UK, take TV performance data from the audience measurement agency BARB, combining it with online ad viewing data to yield an analogue-style reach and gross rating point (GRP) metrics.

Speaking at Beet.TV’s Video Ad Strategy Summit in London in May, Nielsen media client consulting VP Andrew Bradford said: “How do you de-dupe the people who saw the TV ad and the online ad? Fundamentally, that’s about people. It will allow clients to make much more informed investment decisions in an area that’s been a little bit of guesswork.”

For today’s UK public beta test, which follows a private test with BARB, Nielsen cites trials with advertisers including Unilever and Mondelez International (the former Kraft Foods); agencies including Omnicom, Aegis and Universal McCann, and publishers including Adap.tv.

Press release