• by Masha Geller , June 8, 2003

Back in December, the Audit Bureau of Circulations folded in its interactive unit, ABCi, combining its offline and online media reports. The decision kicked up a bit of dust, leaving interactive advertisers with only ABC's primary competitor - BPA - to turn to for online audits. As of last week, however, they have a choice.

ImSERVICES Group, Ltd. has been formed to provide third-party verification services for interactive media properties, it was announced by CEO/Co-Founder Richard Bennett.

Richard Bennett, who was a Co-founder and designer of ABC Interactive, along with several other former members of the ABCi management team, offer their expertise and capabilities to audit and verify Web site activity, advertising & email delivery, consumer privacy, and other electronic transactions.

"From a standards and verification viewpoint, interactive media audience measurement isn't considered reliable and consistent when compared to other media," says Bennett. "In the economic climate and media marketplace we're in today, this has been an impediment to greater investment in this medium by agencies and advertisers. The major marketers we've talked to who are using the Internet are looking for accountability built on trust."

Jim Spaeth, President of the Advertising Research Foundation, is supportive of the endeavor, saying that the need to have and ability to deliver impartial third-party audits is "a given in all major media, and ImSERVICES isstepping in to bring that same standard to Interactivemedia."

ImSERVICES plans to provide third-party verification through several services. The first, Web Site Audits will verify the measurement of the medium - such as page impressions, unique users and visits. Also, ImSERVICES will offer Advertising Campaign Audits, which will certify the authenticity of the ad currency - includes ad trafficking, delivery, measurement, reporting, and accreditation. The company will also offer Email Audits, Transaction Audits and Reconciliation Services.

Among the first clients that ImSERVICES has served are: Ask Jeeves, AvantGo, CentrPort, ClubMom and Millward Brown. Additionally, the ImSERVICES staff has developed relationships with numerous prominent Internet companies, including content providers, third-party ad-servers/ad-serving and measurement software providers.