Google to Offer a Tool To Measure Web Hits†

Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2008 — As soon as Tuesday, Google plans to unveil a new service that measures Internet use, according to advertising executives who have been briefed on it. The tool is intended to help advertisers identify the best places to buy online ads by telling them which Web sites their target audiences visit.

Google's approach, aimed at bolstering its ad-sales business, could pose a major threat to the Web measurement services that are available now, ad executives say. The two main players in the business — comScore and Nielsen Online — gather data on Internet use largely by tracking what panels of people do online or by conducting surveys, and their results can be inconsistent and incomplete. Google's new offering will be based mostly on data from Web servers,... continue reading

Modeling The Real Market Value Of Social Networks

Tech Crunch, June 23, 2008 — Is MySpace worth $3 billion, or $20 billion? It depends on how you value a user.

It’s time to start comparing the big global social networks on something other than unique visitors and page views. I believe an effective way to value a particular user is based on the average Internet advertising spend per person in the country they live in. The higher the spend, the more value the social network can get out of the user by serving them advertising and other products. That means that, for now, users in a handful of key countries are worth far more in terms of revenue potential than those in the rest of the world.

We’ve begun to build out a model that looks at social network usage by country/region and compares that to available data on total Internet... continue reading

Microsoft Acquires TV-Targeting Tech Firm†

Navic Networks Available on 35 Million Set-Top Boxes

Advertising Age, June 18, 2008 — The Microsoft-Google war has moved from the web to the TV. Microsoft today announced it will buy Navic Networks, an addressable advertising technology provider that enables marketers to dynamically target and measure audiences based on patented technology available in 35 million set-top boxes nationwide.

Measuring Up: Web Analytics Firm Monitors Engagement

MediaPost Publications, June 16, 2008 — Start-up Web video analytics firm Visible Measures today is expected to announce the availability of a service for advertisers and agencies to measure the "true" viral reach and audience engagement of their video ad campaigns.

Visible Measures' technology, which monitors user engagement throughout the entire video stream, has so far focused on helping publisher customers get a better idea of what parts of their videos work, and what parts don't.

NBCU, Nielsen Team on New Sales Measure†

Partnership Will Cull Data from TV Ratings, Online Video Streaming, Consumer Activity

Advertising Age, June 2, 2008 — NBC Universal and Nielsen have decided to collaborate on new sales measures using data from TV ratings, online video streaming and consumer activity based on specific industry categories. It's just the latest step by a TV network to cobble together information for advertisers that goes beyond the typical reach-and-frequency ratings that have been the benchmark of the business for decades.

The two companies said their alliance is designed to "move advertising sales beyond traditional demographic data" and promote the development of new sales and marketing measures.

Nielsen to Buy IAG Research for $225 Million†

Adds Qualitative Measurement to Quantitative Expertise

Advertising Age, April 7, 2008 — If Nielsen can't measure its way to continued dominance of an ever-shifting advertising world, perhaps it can buy its way into it. The media-measurement company today said it had agreed to purchase IAG Research, a company that measures viewer response to ads, TV shows and product placements, for $225 million.

Why DVR Viewers Recall Some TV Spots†

NBC Study Tracks What is Absorbed in Fast Forward

Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2008 — What do Matt Damon and an animated piece of phlegm have in common? Viewers seem to remember them especially well, according to a new test that measured what people recall about TV ads, even when they're zapping through them.

The test is part of a continuing effort by General Electric's NBC Universal to measure the effectiveness of television ads that viewers skip through with their digital video recorders. The bottom line: Viewers still remember the spots — or at least some elements of them — even when they're watching at up to six times the speed of regular live TV.

Couch to Supermarket: Connecting Dots†

New Firm Will Match Data From Cable Boxes, Frequent-Shopper Cards

Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2008 — Web marketers can easily tell whether a particular consumer visited a specific site, when she visited, and whether she bought something. But despite a decades-long head start, television advertisers haven't been as successful connecting the shows people watch to the products they buy.

Now a new media research company, TRA — for "True ROI Accountability for Media" — is taking another crack at the problem. It merges data from people's cable set-top boxes with consumer-purchase databases, such as the information stores gather from frequent-shopper cards. For instance, a company could see whether households that watched an ad for its toothpaste later bought that brand of toothpaste.

Don't Overemphasize ROI as Single Measure of Success†

Variety Counts: It Takes More Than One Benchmark to Assess Overall Effectiveness

Advertising Age, February 4, 2008 — There is a fundamental problem with overemphasizing ROI as the single measure of marketing success: It is often impossible to accurately quantify the impact. Although the world of marketing has come a long way in terms of analytic capabilities, applying financial numbers to the marketing equation is not always possible or preferable.