Nielsen Data to Fuel Australian Online Audit

Australia's print audit body the ABA is to launch a web traffic measurement service for its member publishers, on 1st May, with the first data a month later. Participating members will have their site traffic data compiled through Nielsen Online's Market Intelligence tool.

The ABA's deal with Nielsen will give its 1500 members initial access to the Market Intelligence service for as little as $95 a month, bringing it within the range of smaller firms. To be known as the Web Audit Service, the new offering aims to ensure transparency and standards in audience data collection, and will deliver Nielsen's data on daily unique browsers, monthly page impressions, total sessions, and page and session duration.

The service is seen as a first key step towards a single readership figure for print and online audiences, with publishers' audited print and online data appearing together on the ABA's eData portal: however, ABA leader Gordon Towell acknowledges issues to be dealt with, including the fact that the system will double count those using both online and paper formats.

The scheme is endorsed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia, the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) and the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA). The ABA (Audit Bureaux of Australia) itself comprises the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) and Circulations Audit Board (CAB). IAB Australia has invited the ABA to join its Web Measurement Council, and its leader Paul Fisher has called the addition of the ABA's audit expertise 'the last piece in the puzzle' in developing the country's online audience measurement standards.

Towell says the motivations for the launch are similar to those within the print media that led to the formation of the original ABC back in 1932. He called the new launch 'an important milestone providing an industry benchmark that will give advertisers and media buyers directly comparable data when making their marketing decisions.'

Towell says there is 'a lot of manipulation going on in terms of web traffic' at present, with site owners inevitably 'maximising the numbers' in the absence of agreed rules, and he confirms that he believes the Audit will provide significantly lower figures than previous claims for some sites. One of its activities will be to check the positioning and definition of tags that record online activity, which on some sites may be double-counting users.

The Nielsen Online service is also at the heart of the so-called 'hybrid' Internet audience measurement system being developed for the Australian IAB, following controversy two years ago. The hybrid service will combine web site tagging and panel-based data in an attempt to overcome or minimise the deficiencies of the individual systems, over which Nielsen and the IAB were temporarily at odds.

Megan Clarken, Nielsen Online MD, expects the firm's own upgraded online panel to be rolled out mid-year with trial data available at the end of 2009. She comments: 'Nielsen Online and the ABC and CAB share a common goal of driving transparency and accountability with the online industry, and we are delighted to be working together to support this important initiative.'

Web sites: www.nielsenonline.com , www.iabaustralia.com.au and www.auditbureau.org.au .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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