The ‘hybrid’ system, which uses a combination of panel and server-side data, will go live once the IAB has reviewed data collected during the audit.

The contract with Nielsen, awarded in May, will run for an initial period of two years. Nielsen won the contract to develop the new system following a hotly contested tendering process that initially saw 21 companies chase the work.

David Gaines, chairman of the Media Federation of Australia’s digital committee, said: “In so many ways digital teaches us how we should approach many other areas of the communications business. This initiative should finally give us something to represent digital’s value to marketers in a way that is tangible.

“It will better drive integration inside media agencies too. As planners are able to access consistent online advertising metrics it’s going to make getting digital ideas and strategies off the ground a far easier task than it is at present.”

Media news site Mumbrella cited rumours that the introduction of the system had been hit by delays, but IAB Australia denied the claims.