You remember how it used to be that getting your name in the phone book made you feel like a big shot? No? Neither do I, but people used to think that was pretty cool. These days though (well, really starting in 2014) the gold standard of awesomeness is having the Nielsen ratings apply their advertising metrics to your YouTube channel.

Coming soon, all of Google’s properties will be assessed by Nielsen, the company that provides advertising info for television. We’ve mentioned it before, but now it’s apparently really real. It’s clearly one more step towards YouTube being counted by the mainstream as one of their own. Google already does its own metrics tabulations and partners with web tracking firm ComScore to provide additional numbers, but Nielsen will serve as an added dose of legitimacy.

Already there has been a successful advertising push online with Google increasing their ad percentages, as well as creating their own original content, but hopefully it also results in the YouTubers getting more recognition from sponsors.

Now, I know how you kids like generic quotes, so I made this one extra generic for ya: “We are pleased that Google has added Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings as a certified measurement provider; this is just one example of how Nielsen and Google are collaborating for the benefit of our shared clients,” the Nielsen spokesperson says. “This development is further evidence of the momentum and broad marketplace support for our efforts to deliver independent measurement of advertising campaigns across distribution platforms.”

You just learned something today, courtesy of NMR and the anonymous Nielsen spokesperson. Enjoy the knowledge.