Mobile industry set to launch audience measurement system

The mobile industry association GSMA plans to roll out an audience measurement system for mobile media by the end of the year.

GSMA has approved the launch of a system, which is thought to be similar to ABCe but for mobile, following a year-long study with the UK’s five mobile networks – O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and 3, according to reports.

The research has created a measurement process for mobile browsing, which is said to respect the privacy of mobile users while providing planning information for media and advertising agencies.

GSMA’s chief executive and board member, Rob Conway, said: “Access to transparent measurement is essential in establishing mobile as a legitimate advertising medium. This programme will help take the guesswork out of mobile for brands, publishers and agencies.

“For the first time, the advertising community has access to real, aggregated mobile audience data, which offers insight into the most popular sites, ranked by number of visitors, page impressions, time and duration of visits,” he added.

The new audience measurement system for mobiles will give brands, publishers and agencies access to aggregated user behaviour data, which will enable comparisons with other media.

For example, the GSMA study found that mobile users access Facebook on average 3.3 times per day, spending around 24 minutes on the site in total, which is similar to the 27.5 minutes spent by PC users – though PC users only visit the site 2.3 times per day.

Richard Foan, managing director of ABCe, said: “ABCe is looking forward to working with the mobile industry to progress and ultimately deliver mobile measurement to the standards agreed by JICWEBS (The Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards in the UK and Ireland).

“Media planners, owners and buyers require trusted and transparent data to justify driving media budgets to mobile.”

GSMA: www.gsmworld.com