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Online Measurement Moves Offline

The 21st century may come to be known in the media industry as the advertising measurement century. The Internet's measurement capabilities have driven marketers' desire to quantify their spending and eliminate waste. It's also forcing old-time survey-based research and ratings companies like Nielsen and Arbitron to drastically improve their services.

Nowadays, it's not just Internet advertisers and publishers that want more accurate digital data; magazine, TV, outdoor and radio firms also want to make their information more accountable. Enter Google, awhich is making an aggressive push into selling measurable advertising to traditional mediums. Now you see what the competition ratings firms are up against.

In outdoor, the Traffic Audit Bureau, the industry's official auditor, is revamping its measurement system for more than 200 U.S. markets. "The absence of better numbers has always been a barrier to entry," said Joseph C. Philport, president and chief executive at the bureau in New York. The firm believes better measurement in the form of digital billboards counting actual numbers, instead of sample sizes, while also allowing multiple advertisers to use the same billboard, would be a boon to the industry.

It removes the high-price barrier to entry, and may enhance the medium's adv effectiveness. The firm is even exploring the idea of implementing eye movement technology to see how many passers-by actually look up.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »

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