Dive Brief:

• YouTube TV, the mobile video service from Google that offers 40 channels and DVR for $35 a month, extended its audience measurement deal with Nielsen for advertising on YouTube's mobile app, according to a statement by the firm.
• Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings will provide cross-device measurement of audiences on YouTube among desktop computers and mobile devices. Nielsen will show reach, frequency and gross rating points data on the YouTube app in addition to age and gender demographics. More than half of YouTube’s video viewership comes from smartphones or tablets.
• YouTube has used Nielsen for digital ad metrics on desktop and mobile browsers for the past three years, Media Post reported. Measurement company comScore began providing YouTube mobile viewing metrics to its partner channels in February.

Dive Insight:

The move is aimed at luring more traditional brand marketers. While Google offers all kinds of ad metrics for paid search, its push into delivering video content demands audience measurement that is meaningful to major brands. Traditional advertisers increasingly are buying media schedules on YouTube through Google Preferred, an aggregator of YouTube's top content that's rated by Nielsen.

Nielsen continues to move into digital video platforms, having formed a partnership with TV-streaming service Roku to provide audience guarantees. Nielsen’s Total Content Ratings measurements, which went through repeated delays, is intended to provide extended mobile measurement for YouTube’s app, Adweek reported, which will give publishers, advertisers and media agencies deeper insights into their audience across YouTube using metrics comparable to those used for traditional TV.

Last month, Google expanded its Ads Data Hub that was originally created to measure YouTube campaigns to include data from the Google Display Network and DoubleClick, according to Marketing Land. Google allows advertisers to give third-party measurement vendors including comScore, DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, Moat and Nielsen access to that system. With the growing consumption of mobile video, Google understands that YouTube needs to provide advertisers with more concise audience data in order to push more relevant and targeted ads to consumers.