Nielsen Offers Protection to Copyright Holders

From Mike Shields, MediaWeek:

The Nielsen Company says it has a new product that can help major media companies police the distribution of their video content on Web sites like YouTube, and ultimately make money on the consumer-driven phenomenon.

The media research firm (parent company of Mediaweek) has partnered with the Beaverton, Or.-based technology vendor Digimarc Corporation to launch a new service - Nielsen Digital Media Manager – designed to aid TV networks, independent content producers and various online video distributors in tracking where users are posting and streaming copyrighted video content. Rolling out in mid 2008, the new service combines two tracking techniques: digital “watermarking” and “fingerprinting” - that in tandem should provide producers with a complete picture of where their content resides on the Internet.

Eventually, Nielsen plans to expand the usage of the service to other forms of media, including music and DVDs, said Harkness.

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