ABCE Research Shows Value Of Online Audience Measurement
ABC Electronic (ABCE) has unveiled research underlining the value of its verified web traffic figures in justifying online investment.
Media buyers questioned by the research highlighted the need for “comparable and independent” traffic figures in the buying process, with the data of great use in substantiating their decisions and recommendations to advertisers.
94% of media buyers questioned by the research regarded verified ABCE figures as “critically or very important” in order to validate media owners’ claims, while 64% of buyers saw ABCE figures as “critically or very important” in justifying buying decisions.
Yet more kudos was heaped upon ABCE by those questioned, however, when asked about the reliability of the ratings body’s research, with 8 out of 10 media buyers stating that an ABCE certificate is a “mark of quality and integrity.”
Other findings made by the research include 86% of media owners claiming that ABCE figures are valuable to their brand, while three quarters of media owners questioned use ABCE certification in their marketing materials.
Furthermore, 75% of media owners specifically mention ABCE in their media pack wording, while 91% state that it is important for ABCE to raise industry standards through its work as secretariat of JICWEBS.
Commenting on the findings, Richard Foan, managing director of ABC Electronic, said: “It’s very encouraging that media buyers are using industry standard independent certification to justify their buying decisions, and this demand for accountability will continue as the proportion of marketing budgets spent online increases. A number of buyers have told me that they now open conversations with media owners with the question ‘do you have an ABC Electronic certificate?’, and we look forward to this happening across the board as media owners deliver a trusted medium to advertisers.”
Online advertising is becoming increasingly important, with industry experts all predicting the medium to perform strongly over this year and the future. Data published recently from TNS Media Intelligence, shows online adspend for the US to be up by 8.2% year on year for the first quarter of 2005 (see US Adspend Up By 4.4% In Q1 2005).
This strong start to 2005 confirms financial services company, Goldman Sachs, prediction that 2005 will be a bullish year for online advertising, with the market forecast to increase by 28% year on year, to reach $12.3 billion (see Goldman Sachs Predicts Online Adspend To Rise By 28% In 2005).
Elsewhere, estimates released last month by Forrester Research are more optimistic than Goldman Sachs, predicting online adspend to reach $14.7 billion this year, a 23% increase on its 2004 estimates (see US Online Ad and Marketing Spend To Reach $14.7 Billion in 2005).
Market analyst eMarketer’s predictions are closer to Goldman Sachs’, projecting online advertising to hit $12.9 billion in 2005, a 34% rise on eMarketer’s 2004 forecast (see Online Adspend To Hit $13 Billion In 2005).