There are a number of companies involved in developing ways to measure how people consume media—like TV and radio ratings, web traffic analysis and newspaper and magazine circulation figures. They all share the same goal: figuring out what content is popular (and what’s not). Many of these companies use panel-based research, enlisting a group of volunteers who report on their media consumption.

One of the current focuses of this type of research is to understand how people are consuming media across multiple screens, and how measurement can best reflect this new era, where a user watches her favorite TV show while surfing the web and watching a video on her cell phone. We think this is an important area of research and are currently partnering with industry players across a number of research projects around the world, all with the goal of helping content providers and advertisers deliver compelling experiences across these different screens.

In the U.S., these projects include the Screenwise Panels, as well as a partnership with NBC to look at how people interact with Olympics content across TV, the web and mobile devices. These panels are voluntary to join, participants can leave at any time and we are transparent in terms of what information is collected and how it’s used.

Once our research is complete, we plan to share both our methodology and our findings. We believe that an improved understanding of how media work together and better measurement that connects online, offline and mobile media will benefit the industry as a whole, and we look forward to working with our partners on these efforts.

Posted by Nick Arini, Product Manager