Nielsen Mobile snags Verizon Wireless

Nielsen Mobile took an important step forward today, closing a deal with Verizon Wireless to collect direct ringtone and full-song download sales data for a pending metric service. Currently, there is no central sales-level data on ringtones or full-song download purchases, like there is for CD sales. Nielsen Mobile's goal is to collect this information directly from wireless carriers to create a RingScan service, a mobile version of the company's SoundScan music tracking service, upon which the Billboard music charts are based.

For more on Nielsen Mobile and Verizon Wireless:
- read the company release