• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, November 2, 2010

Though it may seem obvious, marketers had better understand the metrics that ad networks are using to measure campaign success -- both short-term and long-term -- according to Anne Hunter, Vice President, Advertising Effectiveness Products, comScore. “If the network thinks that clicks are the goal, it’s going to miss the ultimate objective” -- if clicks are not the ultimate goal -- Hunter explained during an afternoon keynote at OMMA Ad Nets. That doesn’t mean that a network isn’t capable of measuring success in other ways; they’re just not often used properly, according to Hunter. “The network needs to know what the actual end goal is,” she said, adding, “We don’t think that is happening based on our research.”

Meanwhile, audience targeting isn’t working as well, according to findings from buyers and comScore. According to Hunter, there is a big gap between awareness metrics and favorability metrics, and -- surprise, surprise -- the problem comes down to frequency.