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A joint initiative between the JICIMS (Joint Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems) and the NRS (National Readership Survey) to develop a regular study of the internet population and its online habits aims to go some way towards boosting the information available to advertisers.

JICIMS members, led by the IAB and IPA Digital, are to work with the NRS to develop a regular survey of top-line figures on the UK's online audience, with the first set of results due to be published in March 2007.

However, this new survey will not replace existing studies. Instead, it aims to build on the site-side traffic figures provided by ABCe and audience-side measures from companies such as Nielsen//NetRatings, ComScore and Hitwise to give media planners and buyers a clear - and deep - view of users.

Online audience

Some might argue that a new set of data for web audiences will increase the confusion. But, the industry disagrees. The NRS study will tell advertisers who makes up the online audience and how big it is, while ABCe ensures web site traffic is measured in a standardised fashion. Panel-based studies such as ComScore's detail how individual users behave on the web, giving information on where they go, how they get there and what they do.

Richard Foan, managing director of ABCe, is positive about the new data: "Used together, all these measures should tell a buyer the general population, the usage of particular sites, and how campaigns and web sites are actually performing in terms of converting visitors."

Alex White, director of the UK Association of Online Publishers (AOP), agrees: "Site-centric and audience-centric data are complementary - they measure different things. Web users consume content in a variety of ways, so media owners will be interested in a variety of metrics, depending on their business model, and the profile and behaviour of their audience. We need to look at the bigger media picture, rather than in-fighting about which metrics are the most important."

In terms of basic site traffic numbers, ABCe-audited figures have become the standard. ABCe doesn't measure traffic to individual web sites, but audits the way in which each site measures it. Then, ABCe offers its stamp of approval when a site is shown to be measuring traffic in accordance with standards set by JICWEBs (Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards) (see box).

To most, a wider acceptance of ABCe audits is crucial to gain greater trust of online channels among media buyers.

Rallying call

Wayne Arnold, co-founder of Profero and the new IPA Digital chairman, has issued a rallying call to the sector, asking that it develop ways of measuring users' 'engagement' with brands through all channels. But, in the meantime, he believes passionately that the sector should accept base measures such as ABCe and the new NRS survey.

"When it comes to questions like 'Is JICIMS' move to work with the National Readership Survey to launch a quarterly internet audience survey a good idea?', my answer is unequivocally, 'Yes, let's get on with it and move on'," says Arnold.

"Measures like ABCe and NRS will give you your building blocks - your base - and that's important. It tells you, if you're planning a campaign, where traffic is likely to be and how much. But, then we need to look at something that measures how well your campaign did."

Acceptance of ABCe as a base measure for site traffic figures is growing.

Recently, News International joined Guardian Unlimited and Sky.com in signing up for monthly audits of The Sun and The Times' sites. More deals like these will help ABCe become a default standard easily understood by advertisers.

Alex White says: "Accountability builds trust, and trust builds the business.

Publishers need to be very clear with agencies and clients that they know where their figures come from. It's particularly important for AOP members as trusted media brands to have trusted, audited data.

Competitive advantage

"ABCe has adapted considerably in response to the developing industry and it's now possible to get audits for email distribution, audio and video streams, chat durations, interactive TV ad impressions and podcasts, and the list goes on," says White. "One of our members, CNET Networks, had an audit of the demographic profile of one of its web sites' audience, which gained them substantial competitive advantage."

She adds:"It's even more important for niche and specialist sites to be audited in order for agencies to trust their numbers."

Laurence Bird, research manager at the IAB, is keen for the new NRS survey to be seen as complementary to the ABCe audits. "We are very happy that ABCe is in the market doing what it is doing and, in the future, we hope to be working even closer with them."

Clarity is beginning to be delivered in terms of audited web site traffic, and the size and demographics of the internet universe. However, audience measurement remains a battleground between commercial players.

White says: "AOP sees the commissioning by JICIMS of the new definitive population survey as a crucial first step towards a planning currency that will enable digital publishers in the UK to provide their clients with consistent audience readership data at a level comparable with other media. It is important to realise the population study is a first step and not the currency itself. That could still be a way off. But, if providers like Nielsen and ComScore weight their panel data to the JICIMS population survey, this ought to improve consistency meanwhile."

For their part, providers of audience statistics agree that there could be confusion among advertisers, thanks to the competition for acceptance as the best standard. However, they also argue that the competition has its upsides. Piers Dodds, VP of marketing solutions at Comscore, points out: "It isn't easy for marketers, but we all strive to provide reputable numbers - we just do it in different ways. We think there is room in the market for different players. We'd love to be the incumbent, but the competition keeps us all on our toes and means that innovation is continuous."

In the meantime, the ABCe-audited traffic figures listed here offer a simple way for advertisers to compare traffic to sites within defined sectors. Recruitment sites continue to prove the most committed to audits.

Categories have also been refined this time around, offering clearer sections for comparision.

ABOUT THE FIGURES

The tables below show web site traffic figures that have been audited by ABCe and have been released by the site owner for public consumption.

Only the figures for each web site's most recent audit are published.

ABCe is a not-for-profit body that administers JICWEBS (Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards) in the UK and Ireland. JICWEBS develops standards for measuring the use and effectiveness of sites and online advertising campaigns and gives definitions for terms such as 'page impressions', 'unique users', 'visits' and 'visit duration'.

Web sites are organised by sector and alphabetically by URL thereafter.

AUDITED SITES
URL/ PAGE UNIQUE LAST
PUBLISHER IMPRESSIONS USERS AUDIT
NOT-FOR-PROFIT
www.businesslink.gov.uk
Small Business Service 3,684,823 422,279 Jun-05

www.businesslink.gov.uk/kent
Small Business Service 21,895 2,389 Jun-05

www.direct.gov.uk
Central Office of Information 6,623,244 1,018,508 Aug-05

www.ipa.co.uk
Institute of Practitioners in Advertising 557,757 16,047 Jan-06

www.ppa.co.uk
Periodical Publishers Association 145,873 23,108 Nov-05

www.scotland.gov.uk
The Scottish Executive 3,765,658 407,053 Nov-05

www.ucas.com
Universities & Colleges Admission Service 67,289,583 1,330,969 Nov-05

www.ukaop.org.uk
Association of Online Publishers 13,966 3,652 Apr-06


PUBLISHING - B2B
www.ameinfo.com
AME Info 4,576,158 752,438 Mar-06

www.applegate.co.uk
Applegate 6,849,048 1,620,853 May-06

www.bmj.com
BMJ Publishing Group 6,223,190 931,527 Oct-05

www.brandrepublic.com
Haymarket 1,229,012 152,133 Nov-05

www.edie.net
Faversham House Group 508,734 76,009 Oct-05

www.inpharm.com
InPharm Internet Services 263,530 25,110 Nov-05

www.inretail.co.uk
InRetail 1,590,765 83,890 Feb-06

www.mad.co.uk
Centaur Holdings 563,367 54,170 Nov-05

www.newscientist.com
Reed Business Information 9,931,858 1,693,469 Oct-05

www.silicon.com
CNET Networks 2,341,458 529,223 Oct-05


PUBLISHING - B2B cont

www.thelawyer.com
Centaur Holdings 1,212,504 83,605 Nov-05

www.theregister.co.uk
Situation Publishing 28,287,472 4,122,526 Nov-05

www.totallylegal.com
Totallyfinancial.com 1,195,693 40,303 Oct-05

www.vnunet.com Network
VNU Business Publications 8,535,794 2,189,367 Oct-05

www.vnunet.com IT Pro
VNU Business Publications 4,292,717 1,557,292 Oct-05

www.warc.com
World Advertising Research Centre 399,230 39,823 Nov-05

www.zdnet.co.uk
CNET Networks 10,582,249 2,118,578 Nov-05


PUBLISHING - NEWSPAPERS
www.dailymail.co.uk
Associated New Media 17,499,167 2,432,103 Mar-06

www.ft.com
Pearson 41,012,007 5,458,019 Mar-06

www.guardian.co.uk
Guardian Newspapers 136,765,282 13,371,904 May-06

www.kentonline.co.uk
Kent Messenger Group 2,034,841 112,626 Jan-06

www.metro.co.uk
Associated Metro 2,609,293 225,643 Mar-06

Newsquest Media Group
Newsquest Media Group 23,860,886 2,394,416 May-05

www.scotsman.com
The Scotsman Publications 20,768,190 2,822,521 Jan-06

www.telegraph.co.uk
Telegraph Newspapers 47,322,054 5,626,258 May-06

www.thesun.co.uk
News Group Newspapers 120,647,765 6,143,503 Apr-06

www.thisislondon.co.uk
Associated New Media 8,020,647 1,557,772 Mar-06

The 'This is' network
Northcliffe Electronic Publishing 44,891,480 1,731,809 Mar-06

www.timesonline.co.uk
Times Newspapers 56,729,545 7,973,875 Apr-06


PUBLISHING - MAGAZINES/BROADCAST
www.gaydarradio.com
QSoft Consulting 2,049,555* 603,964** May-06

www.hellomagazine.com
Hello! Magazine 16,936,668 829,692 Apr-06

www.radiotimes.com
BBC Magazines 18,401,534 1,214,805 May-06

www.sky.com
BSkyB 444,570,235 12,954,184 May-06


LIFESTYLE/COMMUNITY
www.arsenal.com
Arsenal FC 27,193,152 1,656,239 Jan-06

www.beautyguild.com
Guild of Professional Beauty Therapists 238,010 21,799 Mar-06

www.confetti.co.uk
Confetti Network 18,561,216 729,061 Jan-06

www.eurogamer.net
Eurogamer Network 9,894,919 1,239,467 May-06

www.friendsreunited.co.uk
Friends Reunited 282,047,807 6,150,159 Jan-06

www.getlippy.com
Press Holdings 3,080,700 348,991 Jan-06

www.girlguiding.org.uk
The Guide Association 841,821 79,841 May-05

www.habbohotel.co.uk
Sulake Corporation 148,661,499 4,420,090 Nov-05

www.handbag.com
Press Holdings 28,479,908 1,322,786 Sep-05

www.ivillage.co.uk
iVillage Ltd and iVillage 35,124,109 3,496,759 Jan-06

www.liverpoolfc.tv
Liverpool FC 64,029,432 2,909,421 Jul-05

www.pigsback.com
Pigsback.com 9,142,556 271,206 Mar-06

www.skiclub.co.uk
Ski Club of Great Britain 4,178,150 298,597 Jan-06

www.tes.co.uk
TSL Education 22,526,994 572,081 Mar-06

www.topgear.com
BBC Magazines 11,485,128 962,469 May-06

www.upmystreet.com
uSwitch Group 11,241,247 1,203,717 May-06

www.virgin.net
NTL 30,490,688 1,705,638 Jan-06


FINANCE
www.efinancialnews.com
eFinancialNews 1,387,329 71,900 Mar-06

www.find.co.uk
Omnium Communications 635,697 184,428 May-05

www.iii.co.uk
Interactive Investor 15,754,316 549,541 May-06

www.lloydslist.com
Informa 819,065 50,520 Mar-06

www.thisismoney.co.uk
Associated New Media 7,272,786 572,624 Mar-06

www.totallyfinancial.com
Totallyfinancial.com 422,298 31,502 Oct-05


CLASSIFIEDS
www.autotrader.co.uk
Trader Media Group 349,719,518 6,347,601 Apr-06

www.businessesforsale.com
Dynamis 5,182,756 286,692 Jan-06

www.cheapflights.co.uk
Cheapflights 17,975,657 2,765,916 Jan-06

www.findaproperty.com
FindaProperty.com 89,882,677 1,423,945 Oct-05

www.parkers.co.uk
EMAP 19,971,999 1,005,658 Mar-06

www.rightmove.co.uk
Rightmove 222,451,607 2,591,661 Sep-05

www.teletextholidays.co.uk
Teletext 29,723,913 2,605,433 Jul-05


RECRUITMENT
www.accountancyagejobs.com
VNU Business Publications 348,819 45,163 Nov-05

www.anderselite.com
CDI Anderselite 590,474 59,247 Apr-06

www.bmjcareers.com
BMJ Publishing Group 5,840,574 173,775 Apr-06

www.cityjobs.co.uk
Jobsite UK 1,391,655 92,712 Jan-06

www.cwjobs.co.uk
Totaljobs Group 5,383,486 335,027 Mar-06

www.doctorjob.com
GTI Specialist Publishers 923,681 79,433 Mar-06

www.efinancialcareers.com
eFinancialNews 6,874,688 506,189 Nov-05

www.exec-appointments.com
Exec-Appointments 1,008,089 117,201 Nov-05

www.executivesontheweb.com
Executivesontheweb.com 731,231 78,145 Feb-06

www.fish4jobs.co.uk
Fish4 Trading 32,789,352 1,640,804 Nov-05

www.gaapweb.com
Financial Jobs Online 1,208,066 81,003 Nov-05

www.graduate-jobs.com
Graduate-jobs.com 613,749 - Jul-05

www.grocerjobs.co.uk
William Reed Publishing 568,067 31,834 Nov-05

www.hotonline.com
Hotgroup 15,396,233 1,067,323 Jan-06

www.inpharm.com/careers
InPharm Internet Services 164,076 13,625 Nov-05

www.jobs.brandrepublic.com
Haymarket 395,011 35,248 Nov-05

www.jobs.mad.co.uk
Centaur Holdings 176,839 17,960 Nov-05

www.jobs.scotsman.com
The Scotsman Publications 461,688 32,806 Nov-05

www.jobs.telegraph.co.uk
Telegraph Newspapers 776,221 78,136 Nov-05

www.jobs.timesonline.co.uk
Times Newspapers 1,125,154 115,870 Nov-05

www.jobs.ac.uk
Jobs.ac.uk 4,114,745 345,520 Nov-05

www.jobs.guardian.co.uk
Guardian Newspapers 15,662,851 685,116 May-06

www.jobsgopublic.com
jobsgopublic 4,361,169 152,478 Nov-05

www.jobsgroup.net
JobsGroup.net 1,984,982 153,387 Nov-05

www.jobsite.co.uk
Jobsite UK 17,532,767 1,039,438 Jan-06

www.londonjobs.co.uk
Associated New Media 3,438,581 241,183 Jan-06

www.manchesteronline.co.uk/jobs
GMG Regional Digital 973,734 55,798 Nov-05

www.monster.co.uk
Monster Network 22,683,413 1,232,404 Sep-05

www.nijobs.com
Keyland 1,416,210 51,132 Jan-06

www.prospects.ac.uk
Graduate Prospects 5,923,060 520,840 Mar-06

www.s1jobs.com
s1now 7,669,241 210,685 Nov-05

www.scottishjobs.com
Keyland 1,023,762 118,246 Jan-06

www.scotcareers.co.uk
Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail 1,661,948 110,401 Mar-06

www.tesjobs.co.uk
TSL Education 14,004,635 383,096 Mar-06

www.thecareerengineer.com
The Career Engineer 588,773 52,667 Nov-05

www.tiptopjob.com
TipTopJob 1,226,961 157,412 Mar-06

www.totaljobs.com
Totaljobs Group 28,455,083 1,992,927 Mar-06

www.totaljobs.nl
Totaljobs Group 4,402,894 358,261 May-05

www.workthing.com
Hotgroup 17,521,061 1,245,110 Jan-06

As published on www.abce.org.uk as of 20 July 2006
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