The unveiling last week of the UK's first industry-agreed online audience measurement system was hailed as a 'genuine milestone for the industry' by Ian Armstrong, Honda's manager for customer communications.
Set for launch in January 2010, the UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM's) Audience Planning System (APS) aims to allow advertisers and agencies to devise online campaigns that target key audience groups, in the same way that they use BARB and Rajar for TV and radio activity.
According to Bob Wootton, ISBA's director of media and advertising affairs, the system will transform the approach to online advertising. 'This is not a trading tool,' he says. 'It is about effective planning for brands.'
Matt Simpson, head of digital at media agency OMD, and chairman of the IPA's digital media group, points out that £3.7bn is spent on brand advertising across online and offline. However, only 5% of online spend is accounted for by brand display campaigns. The APS, he says, will help agencies be 'more confident about suggesting to clients where their money is spent', and this will drive brands to invest a greater proportion of their budgets online.
This view is shared by Armstrong who says the APS will give marketers 'sound planning principles', so campaign investments can be 'more robust'.
Based on Nielsen panel data from 31,000 consumers using the web at home and 4000 in the workplace, the tool provides brands with both reach and frequency metrics. Diet Coke, for example, could plan online brand campaigns using sites that attract C1 and C2 housewives with children.
While the benefits of UKOM may seem clear, its creation was a fraught process. The original plan for a fully funded £5m Joint Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems fell apart late last year. This left the Association of Online Publishers and the Internet Advertising Bureau to put together a cheaper structure without the IPA and ISBA as stakeholders.
Now, Nielsen's rival, ComScore, has tried to throw another spanner in the works. It has proposed an alternative 'Person-Centric Measure' which works out user data by calculating cookie deletion rates. ComScore has begun to trial its system on selected websites.
Mike Read, senior vice-president and managing director of ComScore Europe, dismisses Nielsen's pure panel system as 'like looking at the world with one eye'. He blames UKOM's refusal to accept 'the hybrid methodology' for his company's decision to present its system to the market.
However, UKOM's less-complex methodology does have overwhelming support from media owners and agency groups. Nielsen is now working with agencies to agree the most easy-to-use interface for the tool.
As Nielsen admits, the system still has some way to go to become a truly effective measure of internet use. At its launch, the panel data will come only from internet users on PCs and not those on Macs or mobiles. Ad network audiences will also be gauged only on potential reach until Nielsen introduces the more refined measure of 'served' ads in April 2010. Effective measurement of the rapidly growing area of online video is much further off.
According to Simpson, UKOM has to take the system 'beyond digital specialists' so that advertisers come to 'expect the UKOM rationale' when they plan brand activity. The body plans to integrate the online data with the IPA's Touchpoints study so that it is brought together with other media measures such as BARB and Rajar.
Armstrong says that after early 'frustrations', the impending launch of the APS has arrived with 'a sigh of relief'. However, UKOM will have to evolve continuously to keep up with the pace of change online. Whether brands increase their investment in online advertising depends on UKOM convincing agencies and clients of the system's effectiveness in the months ahead.