The Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia (IAB) is on the hunt for a research provider to develop a standard online currency that will be launched before the end of next year.
The industry body's Australia Measurement Council will open a tender process to appoint a sole supplier for the planning, buying and reporting of online audience measurement for a three-year term on 8th October.
The window closes on 17th December and the IAB expects to appoint a vendor in the first half of 2011, with a plan to roll out the system before the end of next year.
The new system will not measure mobile and IPTV data, but chief executive of the IAB Paul Fisher
said there was scope to look at their growing influence “at a later and
separate time” in a move that it hopes will propel online advertising to $3 billion. It comes two months after the IAB revealed the online advertising market had broken the $2 billion barrier.
Potential candidates vying for the contract to devise a single online measurement system could include Nielsen Online, Experian Hitwise as well as companies from overseas including US-headquartered ComScore and ViziSense.
Submissions will be reviewed by a specially constituted Technical Review Group (TRG) which will be chaired by Ian Muir, who oversaw the development of OzTam's ratings system and the recently launch outdoor measurement system MOVE.
The TRG will work in conjunction with the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) and the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA).
Chief executive of IAB Australia, Paul Fisher, told AdNews the decision to push ahead with a single currency was encouraged by the “advent of new technology and research companies in the market” and dissatisfaction with the current system.
He said: “Online measurement is too panel and tag centric. We know for a fact that in the UK and Denmark a single currency has accelerated investment in digital advertising. We want to simplify and standardise online media planning and buying, which will accelerate our progress towards $3 billion.”
“The recent advancements in OAM technology coupled with the increased number of OAM providers, particularly in the Australian marketplace, means that the timing is now right to undertake a tender process,” he said.
“While the primary aim of this process is to standardise online audience measurement in Australia, it will also be a significant step towards cross-platform measurement.”
Advertisers and media buyers have for several years pushed for a single data provider that could supply audience information for all websites, to eliminate the confusion caused by several conflicting sets of numbers currently in use.
The AANA welcomed the IAB's move, which it said would bring “greater accuracy to the measurement of online traffic”.
Chief Executive Officer of AANA Scott McClellan said: “Online has the opportunity to become the first medium that can deliver true cross-platform metrics, and we should take this opportunity to do so. I believe what is needed is a set of criteria that are accepted by advertisers, agencies and media, to guide audience measurement in digital media, developed with an eye toward the cross-platform metrics everyone seeks.”
“AANA is an advocate of transparency in media measurement and believes that advertisers want a measurement metric that is reliable, regularly updated and shows a depth of data that enables advertisers to place the correct value on each online publication.”
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