• by Paul Gough , August 5, 2002

A new effort between groups in the United States and Europe could lead to a standard metric for online measurement that might help lead interactive media in a different direction.

The Advertising Research Federation, based in New York, and its European counterpart ESOMAR, recently formed a joint task force. The task force grew out of other methods to determine a standard for online measurement, most recently the FAST initiative. But ARF President Jim Spaeth said the new group will go further than other initiatives in what has become a dynamic industry.

"It's been hard for audience measurement committees to keep up with that and provide what's necessary," Spaeth said. He said a better mechanism is needed, one that is better aligned and global by nature.

"We're just not geared up to do that" with the current efforts," Spaeth said.

And because of the Internet's worldwide reach, ARF needed a worldwide reach.

"This is the world's first truly global medium," Spaeth said.

ESOMAR spokeswoman Rocio Corrales agreed. "A global medium needs a global measurement system" she said. Corrales said European planners and Web executives are as concerned about online measurements as their counterparts in North America.

She said the current online metrics haven't kept pace with the industry's needs. "We are currently faced with a possible inflexion point in the definition of the industry's needs," she said. "For a number of years we have been working to provide better mass-media type ratings. The use of the online media is a highly targeted, addressable way for CRM-type purposes has not been, in this consideration, set."

Corrales and Spaeth both said that in today's volatile economy, it's a good time to determine whether the industry's moving in the right direction.

"A lot of work has been done within the past four years," Spaeth said. "We think this is a good time to step back and take stock."

Corrales said, "We have to pause and make sure our resources are aligned with the industry's needs and directions." She said online metrics can be improved by making them comparable across measurement systems and more comparable to traditional media measures.

"But more importantly, it can be better aligned with the value proposition the medium provides," she said.

Spaeth said the online media's strength is in identifying high-value audiences and delivering advertising messages to them. This is much different than just measuring the size of the audience or how many impressions served.

The study should be completed by the end of the year and available on the websites of the ARF and ESOMAR.