The Readership Works (TRW), Nielsen and Ipsos have announced a strategic collaboration with Australia’s news media industry to deliver a ‘single source of truth’ in measuring, understanding and reporting Australian consumers’ increasingly fragmented engagement with brands and content.

This evolution sees Nielsen now leading the fusion process that brings together accredited readership data, emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) – which has been produced by Ipsos since 2013 – and Nielsen’s digital audience data, to deliver a total audience readership (emma Cross Platform).

Then, Nielsen Consumer & Media View (CMV) will be fused to the emma Cross Platform data to provide critical product data.

The inclusion of Nielsen CMV with the print and digital currencies (emma Cross Platform) offers cross-platform readership, attitudinal, lifestyle and product data. This solution will be known as emma CMV.

Nielsen has a long history of fusing media currencies with Nielsen CMV: OzTAM TV ratings, Commercial Radio Australia’s radio ratings and the IAB-endorsed Nielsen Digital Ratings.

Looking to the future, Nielsen aims to bring the metro print data alongside the existing metro audience data that is already fused with Nielsen CMV.

Nielsen CMV is supported by TV networks, radio networks, outdoor publishers, magazine publishers, digital publishers, advertisers, and agencies.

Mal Dale (pictured above, right), general manager of TRW, said: “This evolution in the emma metric further strengthens its relevance and value as Australia’s readership currency.

“It ensures the continuation of world-class cross platform measurement and maintains best practice to meet the unique needs of this market’s media industry into the future.

“It combines the stability of the existing cross-platform measurement with the exciting opportunity to integrate more closely with Nielsen’s various offerings, most notably Nielsen Consumer & Media View.”

Monique Perry (pictured above, centre), managing director of media at Nielsen, said: “Nielsen is ready to take total audience measurement to the next level. We are thrilled to offer, for the first time, a streamlined and simpler solution for the Australian market.

“There is nothing more powerful than bringing to life high-quality currency data with a greater understanding of Australian consumers’ increasingly unique and diverse attitudes, consumption preferences, ethnicity and purchase intention.

“We are delighted to see the Nielsen Consumer & Media View client base expand to include news media and magazine publishers.”

Ipsos will continue to collect the emma print readership data for at least another five years, which constitutes the currency for magazines and newspapers, including newspaper-inserted magazines, branded sections, and regional and community newspapers.

Brian Hogan (pictured above, left), executive director of emma at Ipsos, said: “Since launch in 2013, emma has established itself as a world-class readership survey.

“Ipsos is proud to be able to provide continuity in readership measurement to Australia’s news media and magazine publishers, including the many regional, community and independent publishers that previously had no access to robust readership measurement.

“Ipsos’ state-of-the-art research techniques are developed around the world and our proficiency in delivering readership and core demographic data will continue to provide media and marketing decision makers with reliable and consistent audience data and insights for many years to come.”

The new measurement offering ensures media sellers and buyers will be able to continue with the same emma readership data across print and digital, combined with core demographics that they have been using since 2013. This allows for longitudinal and trend analysis.