Marketers are still seeking better tools for tracking advertising data as they continue to experiment with approaches to mobile. Measurement firms Nielsen and comScore both made recent announcements regarding related initiatives. Nielsen is partnering with digital ad-sales firms BrightRoll and TubeMogul for a tech trial before expanding its Online Campaign Ratings to mobile, while comScore is expanding its Validated Campaign Essentials measurement product to track ads that appear on phones and tablets.

“The two initiatives are evidence of how important tracking consumer activity on mobile devices is becoming to advertisers — and how measurement companies are scrambling to provide more of that information,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, mobile advertising increased 110 percent last year to $7.1 billion, its third consecutive year of triple-digit growth.

“In a lot of ways mobile has been a very dark space in media that this is going to illuminate a lot,” said Andrew Feigenson, SVP of digital client service at Nielsen.

“Consumers all over the globe are moving their media consumption to tablets and smartphones,” explained Megan Clarken, Nielsen’s EVP of global product leadership. “With that has come a real interest and shift from broadcasters to move their program content from TV and extend it across mobile devices.”

“The two measurement companies spar over whose methodology and approach is better,” notes WSJ. “While comScore has been faster to market with a mobile ad-tracker, Nielsen says it is the only provider that can offer metrics comparable to the TV ratings that are familiar to big advertisers. Each side has signed up big advertisers to use their online measurement products.”