The ad industry’s top buy-side organizations are joining forces on a study to explore the industry’s transition to a multi-currency TV market in the U.S. in a further blow to Nielsen’s status as a near monopoly.

The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) is joining the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) in launching the study. The study will “will assess the opportunities and challenges presented by the transition and will seek to develop practical recommendations that can help to ensure the success of the transition” across ad-supported TV and video on linear and non-linear platforms, the groups announced in a statement.

A brands’ guide to the Nielsen turmoil

The move comes amid widespread experimentation with Nielsen alternatives such as Comscore, VideoAmp, iSpot.tv and Samba TV in advance of the coming TV upfronts. While Nielsen executives have, at times, suggested the alternative currency movement is driven primarily by media companies looking to improve their revenue, a study launched by the leading buy-side groups helps confirm broader industry interest.

"There are good reasons to be positive about recent developments,” said Jon Watts, managing director at CIMM, in a statement. CIMM members are “largely optimistic that this transition will create new opportunities, drive increased investment in measurement offerings, stimulate innovation and facilitate the growth and development of advanced advertising. However, there are also important uncertainties about how the transition will work in practice, the implications for planning and buying, and the challenges of navigating across and between different measurement solutions, leading at least some industry participants—including smaller networks, major agency groups and advertisers—to voice concerns.”

The study will look at such issues as what is lacking in TV currency measurement, the challenges and risks of multiple currencies, approaches different agency groups are taking to support clients, standards and accreditation for currency measurement vendors and potential impact of the transition on the wider TV ad market.

“Our goal with this study is to help educate and inform the industry on how to transition from uncertainty to innovation in an increasingly complex transaction environment,” said Nathalie Bordes, executive VP of measurement for marketers at the ANA.

“Unlike media owners who see a revenue benefit from a multi-currency TV market, agencies are revenue-neutral in the measurement process,” said Ashwini Karandikar, executive VP of media, technology and data at the 4A’s, adding: “Our goal is to ensure transparency in the measurement methodologies in order to eliminate the complexities for our members.”