Nielsen Online and Beijing Zhongqian Wangrun Information Technology Company have formed a joint venture in China to develop Internet measurement services for the country.

Zhongqian Wangrun is the operator of ChinaRank, a website rankings service in China. The new venture, CR-Nielsen, claims to be the first company authorized to support the delivery of standardized Internet measurement services in China.

"We are pleased to be working together to extend our leadership position in the dynamic and rapidly-growing Chinese market," stated Ge Zhao, president of CR-Nielsen. "Nielsen has set the standard for quality, reliability and innovation in Internet measurement and analysis, and we look forward to working together to help clients understand the evolving digital landscape in China — from usage metrics to demographics; from search activity to advertising intelligence."

The China Internet Network Information Center estimates that there are 253 million Internet users in China as of June 2008, and it is unclear if this new joint venture will compete with the government-supported CNNIC, be complementary to it, or whose statistics will be most credible.