Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced a new partnership with market research firm The Nielson Company, allowing them measure the efficiency of in-game advertising.

By sharing data from PlayStation 3 consoles and PlayStation Network, Nielson is able to analyse the data allowing the company to determine its reach, frequency, and effectiveness. Currently, the system is being tested exclusively in North America, consisting of both first and third party software.

"SCEA's contribution of its game census data, combined with Nielsen's data sets, represents a milestone in our efforts to bring greater legitimacy and accuracy to game advertising measurement," commented Jeff Herrmann, vice president of Nielson Games.

“By marrying SCEA's server-side data traffic with our standard ratings metrics, we will be able to provide advertisers with a much more robust picture of the impact of their game network advertising and of those consumers who are actually playing games, all while preserving consumer privacy.”

Initial findings are to be revealed at some point later in the year, so stay tuned for any further information.