The most-used sites on the internet are not necessarily the most valuable in terms of attracting online spenders, according to a new study from Diameter, a division of DoubleClick, and comScore Networks.
The netScore Buying Power Index (BPI) allows internet site owners to gauge the ‘value’ of their visitors based on the amount of money they spend across all sites on the internet. The May report found that it is not always the most popular sites that attract the most likely online spenders.
The Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com), for example, has a lower BPI than the Detroit News site (www.detnews.com). For the portals, AltaVista has a higher index than mega-portals such as AOL and Yahoo.
The BPI is found by measuring the total amount spent online by the average member of a site’s audience and then indexing this to the total amount spent online by the average internet user. For example, a BPI of 100 represents the baseline index, so a BPI of 200 would mean the average visitor to that site spends twice as much online as the average internet user.
The statistics are compiled from netScore’s universe of 1.5 million internet users. The BPI could be very valuable to website owners who are facing up to an advertising community that is increasingly sceptical about the benefits of online marketing.
As Doug Knopper, vice president and general manger of Diameter puts it: “As content, ad-driven businesses struggle to quantify the value of their sites’ visitors to increasingly demanding media buyers, the netScore BPI provides a unique tool for publishers, as well as advertisers, to measure a web site’s audience in terms of online spending. The BPI, in conjunction with netScoreÂÂ’s more accurate visitor counts, will help media planners develop more effective ad buys.”
The BPI enables advertising agencies, publishers and advertisers to make smarter advertising, product placement and marketing decisions by providing information based on actual buying behaviour, argues Diameter.
