Project aims to increase knowledge of online audience measurement

Return-on-investment is a key consideration for advertisers, who are increasingly turning to online platforms where they can supposedly measure the success of campaigns better than they could when promoting products through for traditional forms such as newspapers and magazines.

The importance of understanding the effectiveness of their internet advertising strategies has lead to the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) and the Internet Advertising Bureau Europe launching a scheme to discover how well measurements are working and what more can be done to improve these.

One of the first tasks of the Measurement of Interactive Audience (MIA) Project was to commission a survey of 800 executives from advertising agencies, media publishers, ad networks and advertisers around the world, which found that only a third felt that calculations were clear and transparent.

Almost two-thirds reported that there was a lack of consistency in audience measurement across countries and regions.

Furthermore, respondents felt it was important for calculations to conform to agreed industry standards and that they should be independently verified, but only around a quarter felt that this was actually the case.

At the moment, measurement is either ’site-centric’ or ‘user-centric’. The former refers to a census approach where pages are cookied so that when a user visits the site they are registered, calculating the total activity on a site for a given period.

User-centric measurement involves analysing a panel of surfers by attaching a piece of software their computers and studying which websites they visit, thereby generating information about the nature of usage rather than the volume.

Alison Fennah, executive director of the EIAA and co-chair of the MIA Project, explains that the problem for many advertisers is understanding the distinction between the types of measurement.

On the back of the survey revealing a lack of clarity in calculations, the MIA Project has created a dictionary of definitions for advertisers so that they can find out how audiences are being tracked by different providers.

“One of the things that we’re trying to do is to provide more clarity around what the measures actually mean in practice and how the different supplier companies that are providing them are defining them,” she says.

Another initiative based on the back of the survey is to provide more cross-market information.

Ms Fennah explains that there can be problems with identification and terminology, with one name possibly meaning something different in an alternative sector or country.

“Also at the same time we’re trying to analyse - which is what the survey did - what people want from audience measurement, what they think is lacking now and what they think future priorities will be so that we can have a dialogue with the suppliers around what’s important that we do now and what’s important that they develop for the future,” she continues.

Ms Fennah suggests that a lack of communication may be to blame for advertisers’ perception of a shortfall in measurement facilities, which is something that the MIA Project will be investigating.

“There might be a need towards measuring certain things more quickly and more effectively in the future, like video ads or online blogs, widgets and stuff like that,” she adds.

Full analysis of the survey’s results will be taking place over the summer, when representatives from the MIA Project will also be consulting with suppliers and conducting a series of interviews with the joint industry committees to understand how professionals in different markets are working with audience measurement.

Looking to the future, the scheme will be aiming to increase knowledge between sectors and countries so that there is consistency across the global advertising industries.