• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 7, 2011

In another nod to video’s increasing currency, Nielsen and ad network Tremor Video are teaming up to expand their respective footprints. Per the partnership, Tremor’s VideoHub customers will be granted access to Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings’ gross rating points via VideoHub for Advertisers.

According to Nielsen, the deal marks the first time it has integrated its gross rating point (GRP) data with a video ad platform. By marrying the standard GRP metric used in TV advertising to online video performance, the goal is to bring TV dollars online. 

“Marketers want to cleanly compare the reach of online video media to other media -- principally TV,” said Steve Hasker, president of Media Products and Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen. 

With Nielsen’s online GRPs, advertisers using VideoHub can now see what demographic audiences their campaigns reach online. Then, via the VideoHub ad platform, they can understand how those audiences responded to their campaigns.

In other words, the collaboration aims to give marketers a single metric for their gross reach, or the total number of people exposed to their ads.

Kelly McEttrick, director of platform strategy for VideoHub, admitted that GRP data has had its critics. She insisted, however, that its validity has become generally accepted.    

“Debate over whether the GRP is good or bad for the digital space has gone on for years, but those days are coming to an end,” said McEttrick. “Advertisers can now look at their demographic reach, and then evaluate how their campaign performed within each audience segment.”

While still small compared to TV money, ad-supported online video is on fire. In October alone, Americans viewed 7.5 billion video ads, according to comScore Video Metrix.  In the ad-serving category, Tremor Video ranked first among video ad exchanges/networks -- and second overall -- crossing the 1 billion mark for the first time.

BrightRoll Video Network ranked third with 756 million, followed by Specific Media with 512 million; and CBS Interactive with 415 million.