On Wednesday, Nielsen and Digimarc launched a new service aimed at helping media companies, social networks, peer-to-peer services, and user-generated content sites monitor and manage media distribution across the Web.
Dubbed Nielsen Digital Media Manager, the service uses digital watermarking and fingerprinting to help assure copyright compliance on sites such as YouTube.
David Calhoun, chairman and CEO of Nielsen, predicted the service would stimulate the growth of online video distribution. He said he is convinced that Digital Media Manager will benefit consumers, content providers, and distributors, and now he’s trying to convince the world.
Focusing Initially on TV Shows
“Until now, the lack of an independent, industry-accepted identification and tracking service has limited the transactions that allow the delivery of media content over the Internet,” Calhoun said in a statement.
“Now with our new media identification and management service’s unique ability to identify content throughout the Internet, both content providers and distributors can protect and monetize the value of online media.”
The new services will focus initially on the online distribution of television content in the U.S. The companies said they expect the new services to be available in mid-2008.
Nielsen and Digimarc also said they plan to work with the media industry to watermark DVDs, movies, music, video games, and other content in subsequent phases of the rollout.
Entertainment Companies, Authors
The type of service Nielsen and Digimarc are proposing will become increasingly important to the digital media landscape, predicted Phil Leigh, a senior analyst at Inside Digital Media. Even copyright owners who don’t make a living on content, he said, still want to get paid for the content they generate.
“This not only applies to entertainment companies, but also to authors who might begin developing instructional multimedia text that’s available in print and online,” Leigh said. “The online version might have lots of hyperlinks in it….