Feature: New Standards For Electronic Media Audits

From January next year, UK websites will for the first time report their audited traffic figures over standard periods and frequencies. Under new criteria put together by the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS), sites audited independently by ABC //electronic will have to produce figures which begin on the first of each month and run to the end of that month. Currently ABC //electronic audits websites as and when the sites’ publishers request, covering varying periods.

Whilst the new standards may not on the face of it sound very radical, it is a major step forward for the online advertising community and for web publishers’ accountability. Standard reporting periods will allow direct comparisons between different sites and previous audits for the first time since ABC //electronic was set up in 1996. Over 100 publishers are now registered with ABC //electronic, covering many of the most-visited websites in the UK, including lineone.net, bbc.co.uk and fhm.co.uk.

Richard Foan, ABC //electronic’s managing director, says that the new standards are a direct result of online buyers’ demands for better traffic information. Whilst sites will not necessarily have to report every month, they will be obliged to carry audits that cover standard monthly periods. Foan says that ABC responds to the JICWEBS bodies, including the IPA and Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), and that if buyers demand more frequent information ABC would request its registered sites to increase the number of their audits.

Patrick Burton, head of the ISBA new media group, says: “This move is designed to bring more comparability to the process. Direct comparability and transparency are the cornerstones of a common currency for web traffic.”

Whilst ABC //electronic has over 100 sites registered for an audit, there are still many more which produce their own audit statements or have their sales houses conduct a traffic audit from them. Foan says that, like in the magazine industry, many of the smaller websites, perhaps with niche audiences, are not as in need of an independent audit service. “It is particularly those sites which are generating significant amounts of revenue which are going to require an independent audit; also some companies, such as QXL and Freeserve, come to ABC //electronic to get an audit so that they are accountable to their investors,” says Foan.

Of the websites currently audited by the ABC, bbc.co.uk is currently by far the most popular, receiving over 80 million page impressions during March this year. Portal site and search engine, yahoo.co.uk, comes in second with almost 67 million impressions during April. Amongst UK consumer magazine publishers’ online offerings, EMAP’s FHM website, at fhm.co.uk, is the most accessed with over 12 million page impressions. IPC Magazines’ nme.com is also very popular, with over 8 million impressions during May 1999.