How do you measure engagement? Well, everybody's doing it, but the trouble is, advertisers don't have standards to measure one publisher's engagement against another's. At the same time, advertisers
are curious to know more whether engagement really works. But what, exactly, are we talking about, “Are We Engaged†moderator Alan Chapell askedâ€"trust, loyalty, clicks, branding,
lift? Without measurement standards, engagement comes out looking like a “semi amorphous†metric, Chappel said. Are advertisers buying it just because publishers are selling itâ€"or
are publishers selling it because advertisers are buying it?
Either way, the confusion is okay, said Jill Griffin, director of marketing for Hearst Magazines Digital Media. Engagement is still
in its experimental phase. “We don't even know how to measure what we don't know,†she said, adding that the industry isn't ready for standards, and that advertisers and publishers are
perhaps being over-hasty. “I'd rather mess up in front of a thousand people than a million people,†she said.
