UKOM launched and Douglas McArthur named as chairman

UKOM, the UK online measurement company, had its official launch in London yesterday afternoon, with the additional announcement that Douglas McArthur has been named as chairman.

Douglas, previously chief executive of RAB, has been working with UKOM since July.

Guy Phillipson, chairman of IAB, and Louise Ainsworth, managing director EMEA online division of The Nielsen Company explained the details of the new Audience Planning System (APS), which will launch in January 2010 with first data available on 10th February.

The APS will allow advertisers and their agencies to plan online campaigns that target specific audiences, through the reach and frequency metrics that will be available from their panel of 35,000 consumers across home and work PC locations.

The Nielsen meter will take into account the “cluttered desktop” which has many internet windows or tabs open, and will only measure at the desktop level – so it will know which website is in focus at the front and viewable.

One of the aims of the system is to increase the percentage of online spend that is brand display advertising, which is currently estimated by Matt Simpson, head of digital OMD Group, as 5% of total online spend.

Further additions to the system will roll-out as the year continues, with ad network reach available from April 2010 and online video measurement available from mid 2010. In addition a new Nielsen interface will be launched in Q2 2010.