It's certainly not our personal mission to make Google a cause célèbre, but we have a special place in our hearts for any company that challenges Nielsen Media Research, the bumbling audience analytics firm headed toward further catastrophe by David Calhoun, the former General Electric vice chairman. Google recently unveiled Google Ad Planner, a new framework that combines website metrics with media buying, which is supposed to replace the guesswork employed by companies like Nielsen and comScore, which use a complicated and mostly flawed mixture of audience panels and computer logging to tell clients how many people visit a website, and what type of people they are. Google, which collects metrics data itself, directly from websites that carry its tracking code, wants to challenge these industry leaders in a market they've long owned, and which media buyers have always had to rely on to know where best to spend their millions in ad buys. Except now that the service has debuted and the biggest media agencies have had a look, it appears Nielsen isn't in much danger of no longer holding clients hostage.

Digital observers say that while Google Ad Planner does appear to shed more light on the audience gathering across the Internet’s long tail, the product lacks depth, and thus isn’t likely to lead to the demise of established players comScore or Nielsen Online any time soon. [...]

That’s especially true if Google’s new product doesn’t provide the same level of detail and functionality as its would-be rivals in the Web metrics space. “They need to add so many things, it’s not even a consideration at this point,” said David Smith, CEO, Mediasmith, who pointed out that Ad Planner lacks deep demographic data and a reach/frequency function.
“It’s absolutely not ready for prime time.” [...]

[Chief marketing officer of Nielsen Online Susan] Hickey said that she’s seen no indication that agencies or publishers would start abandoning its services. “We do think our clients pay for a breadth and depth that is pretty unique,” she said. “That’s quite different from what Google offers.” But Hickey added the search giant’s heft in the marketplace can’t be ignored: “Google is Google.”

Of course, all of this comes from an article published by Mediaweek, which you might be wise to know, is owned by Nielsen.