• by Masha Geller , July 23, 2001

To mark its entrance into the race for web audience measurement domination, Plurimus Corporation today began offering its NetMetrics Standard report free of charge at their website - http://www.plurimus.com.

Who said you can't get something for nothing?

Like other online audience measurement products on the market today - namely Media Metrix and Nielsen//NetRatings - the NetMetrics Standard report ranks over 60,000 domains into the top 1,000 websites. Sites are ranked based on reach (how many visitors come to a specific site), frequency (how often they visit), and duration (how long those visitors stay each time they visit a site).

Unlike Media Metrix and Nielsen//NetRatings, Plurimus does not use a panel-based model to measure consumer Web usage. Instead, they have partnered with more than 50 national ISPs to track Web usage from the ISP level. Notably, to maintain the integrity of its reports, Plurimus also has developed procedures for excluding sites that achieve high rankings based on "pop-up ads" or "forced content."

So why are they giving it away? As Tracy W. Scott, President and CEO of the Durham, N.C.-based firm said, "A pure audience-measurement tool is only the first step, a step we feel should be provided at the lowest cost possible, or, in the case of NetMetrics Standard, at no cost at all."

Amen to that, but the next step will cost you extra. Rankings are also available for the top 2,000 websites (NetMetrics Enhanced) and the top 7,000 websites (NetMetrics Premium). Other Plurimus reports and services can range from intro-level products that start at $3,500 to annual subscription product suites that can exceed $100,000 a year. Current customers include REI, Sharper Image and Amazon.com.