ADV391K-Juran Kim's Page

[IPRO]: When visitors reach a Web site, their computer ends a request to the site's computer (server) to begin displaying pages. Each element of a requested page (including graphics, text, interactive items) is recorded by the site's Web server log file as a "hit." Because page designs and visit patterns vary from site to site, the number of hits bears no relationship to the number of pages viewed or visits to a site.

[TRAFFIC]: The number of page and/or graphic files requested by visitors. A single page with multiple graphics can be counted as multiple hits since each graphic is counted as a separate hit.

[CASIE]: The equivalent of advertising impressions heredefined as "the gross number of files accessed from X site or domain during Y time." There are variable numbers of deeper files attached by hyperlinks to each page in cyberspace, making this a "rubber yardstick." As explained above, a "clickable element" is a hyperlink allowing a one-click movement to the deeper file behind the page functioning as a menu for that deeper file. Hits implies that the user has been exposed to the deeper material which may never have been selected for display on the screen. As an example, a one-second visit to a home page containing 35 hyperlinks counts as 35 hits within the current Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

[NetCount] NetCount has resolved the hit dilemma by not counting hits at all, instead reporting Page Information Requests (PIRs) and successful Page Information Transfers (PITs). PITs are a true measurement of page deliveries going beyond page requests. When a Browser asks a Web server for some unit of content, common units of content include images, text, pages, sound clips, video files, Shockwave files, and Java applets.

Definitions of Ads and Pages

According to IPRO, banner can be defined as an image on a sponsorable site that functions as a link to the advertiser's site. Banner size is usually measured in pixels: width x height. According to NetCount, advertisement can be defined as typically a clickable image or a Java applet on a publisher's Web site, an advertisement is usually hyperlinked to a page on the advertiser's Web site. Web page can be defined as all Web sites are collections of electronic "pages." Each Web page is an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) document that may contain text, images or media objects. A page can be either static or dynamically generated. The best known page is the "home page," which is usually a visitor's first point of entry and which usually features an index to a Web site.

Definitions of Exposure Measures: Ad Views, Page Views, Site Visits

The definitions of various "exposure measures" can be presented. For an page which contains a banner ad, ad view, page view, exposure and impression are equivalent. According to I PRO, ad views are number of times that an ad banner is downloaded and presumably seen by visitors. If the same ad appears on multiple pages simultaneously, ad views may understate the number of ad views, due to browser caching . According to Traffic, adviews are the number of times that a banner has been presented to visitors. According to NetCount, an Exposure is counted each time an advertisement is delivered by a Web server. Exposures can be used by Web publishers to validate the number of "impressions" that were delivered at their Web site. Exposures can be reported for stationary ads as well as for ads that rotate throughout a Site. According to IPRO, page views can be defined as number of times a user requests a page which may contain a particular ad. Indicative of the number of times an ad was potentially seen, or "gross impressions." Page views overstate ad impressions when users turn "Auto Load Images" off to speed browsing.

Audience Measurement & Analysis

The Web measurement process involves counting and summarizing the visitor transactions on a Web site. Measurement and analysis products tell managers who is accessing their site, when, and what is being accessed. (Hoffman and Novak 1996).

Followings are visitor measurement service providers:

Allen Marketing Group, Inc. http:// www.allen.com

Andromeda Aria Web http://www.andromedia.com

Bien Logic http://www.bienlogic.com

Clickshare http://www.clickshare.com/clickshare

Everyware http:// www.everyware.com

Group Cortex, Inc.http://www.corrtex.com/sitetrack

Interse http://www.interse.com

I/PRO http://www.ipro.com

Logical Design Solutions http://www.lds.com/prodserv/prodserv.html

NetCount http://www.netcount.com

net.Genesis http://www.netgen.com

The NPD Group, Inc. http://www.npd.com

Open Market http://www.openmarket.com/omi/products/webreport.html

Software, Inc. http://www.webtrends.com

Webthreads http://www.webthreads.com

WebWatch http://www.webwatch.com

W3.Com http://w3.com

Auditing

Traditionally, the auditing process involves the objective evaluation of transaction counts by an independent agency. The purpose of the audit is to produce validated data that permits advertisers to compare Web sites in the context of the media buy. A "trusted" third party is sought to avoid any potential or actual conflicts of interest (Hoffman and Novak 1996).

Followings are auditing providers:

Audit Bureau of Interactive VerificationServices (ABVS) http://www.accessabvs.com

Business Publication Association (BPA) http://www.interse.com

I/PRO http://www.ipro.com

MarketArts WebFact http://www.marketarts.com

WebWatch http://www.webwatch.com

NetCount http://www.netcount.com

Advertising Support providers

DoubleClick http://www.doubleclick.net

Focalink http://www.focalink.com

Jupiter Communications http://www.jup.com

NetCount http://www.netcount.com