• by Ross Fadner , June 16, 2008

If you ask the Web's major research firms, and CNET's Dan Ackerman did just that at the 2008 OMMA Video show in New York on Monday, the future of Web measurement still belongs to panels. As Maniak Mazumdar of Nielson Online said, “Our goal is to measure people,” not machines. Sure, there are gaps in the measurement, he added, “but the key is the consumer.” Mazumder said he feels that server measurement has a place, but you need panel data to understand how the consumer interacts with content.

ComScore's Lynn Bolger agreed, adding that the role panel data plays in the media planning process is huge, and cannot be easily replaced, especially when it comes to predicting what's happening in the future. There's also the question of accuracy, which both she and Mazumder pointed out can be skewed by bots and spiders. Accuracy, Bolger said, “has to be the first consideration,” especially when the transactions in question  involve millions of dollars.