The Web site traffic figures reported by the electronic arm of the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC-e) have been widely disparaged by many in the online media, but now it seems the ABC-e will soon be working with the recently formed Online Publishers` Association (OPA) to provide clearer figures.
Things came to a head last year, when the country`s two largest Internet publishers, Independent`s IOL and Naspers`s e-Media24, decided they would no longer report their Web site traffic figures to the ABC-e.
They alleged that ABC-e`s quarterly reports were unclear, that the body was unable to gain credibility in the marketing and advertising industry, and that a declining membership supported a perception that the body was not representative of the industry.
Since then, these two publishers, along with a number of other industry players, including ITWeb, M-Web, Johnnic, iafrica.com and the Mail & Guardian, have formed the OPA, which will focus on issues such as demographic analysis and measurement techniques.
"We are hoping to have an OPA-sanctioned measurement system soon and we have been in discussions with the ABC-e in this regard. So far they have been very positive about it," says Russel Yeo, chairman of the OPA.
"The point of the new measurement system is to be able to compare apples to apples, as with the old system you could get very different results, depending on how you measured the figures."
JP Farinha, who heads up the OPA committee looking into the new measurement system, says they are looking at the technical measurements, but this is only one aspect of the issue.
"The project is still in its infancy but to begin with we will focus on standardising what we are measuring, how should we carry out the measurements, and the auditing thereof."
"Once we have developed these guidelines, we will sit with the ABC-e to get their input and hopefully come to a common understanding. It will be a cognitive process which will take all opinions into account."
Craig Farnham, chairman of the ABC-e, says the organisation is resolving certain structural issues. While they are keeping the ball rolling, he says the industry must understand that it is an involved process and it does take time.
"We did publish the third-quarter figures for the industry last year, despite the fact that IOL and e-Media24 did not supply us with their figures, but it was very low key and without any of the usual commentary from us. We will be doing the same in February for the last-quarter figures."
Commenting from the advertising industry`s perspective, Joanne Scholtz, online media director for FCB Headspace, says that while this issue is rather disjointed at the moment, she believes the OPA is changing this.
"I feel that the role of the ABC-e will change with the advent of the OPA, as I see the ABC-e becoming responsible for auditing specifically, while the OPA will hopefully become a kind of industry watchdog.
"As media planners and strategists, we will want our clients to be members of the OPA, as we will then know exactly what we are getting, because the standards will be set. At the moment, we have no specific guidelines and we have people coming to us with all sorts of endorsements that cannot be clarified or substantiated."
She says a lack of guidelines is detrimental to the media as there is no real protection of any kind.
"The Internet and New Technology Committee of the Advertising Media Forum (an industry body for the advertising field) has thrown its weight firmly behind the OPA, as we see it as the answer to many of the current problems in this area of the industry, so it certainly has our complete support."
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