Have the doves begun to cry?

Measurement firm Nielsen has developed a new service to help media companies track pirated content shared online, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The Nielsen Digital Media Manager is a co-production of Nielsen and Digimarc. It creates digital watermarking and fingerprinting technology to track content usage online.

The service will not only will track illegal sharing of video content but also measure the reach of marketing materials.

Nielsen already watermarks most TV shows, giving it an advantage in the realm of copyright tracking. The firm will work with Digimarc to create similarly watermarked DVDs, music files and even video games.

In a similar vein, the Motion Picture Association of America has asked ISPs to act as monitors of movie piracy. MPAA head Dan Glickman says ISPs need to take on that role if they are hoping for any sort of future support from Hollywood.