Nielsen clears the air with IAB Australia

AUSTRALIA-- Nielsen Online's regional head has moved to clear the air following reports of a war of words with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) over plans for web measurement standards.

Allan Dib, the firm's Pacific managing director, voiced support for the IAB yesterday, after having been quoted in the press calling its decision to accredit panel-based but not tagging-based techniques “a step backwards”.

The IAB is to introduce accreditation for panel-based or ‘user-centric' systems, while Nielsen is championing a ‘hybrid' approach, incorporating both user-centric and site-centric techniques.

“We are pleased that the [IAB-led] committee has reached an initial decision on this important issue,” said Dib yesterday. “We see the decision as the first step in moving towards a unified measurement approach for monthly metrics and Nielsen Online fully supports the committee and this first stage.”

However Nielsen Online also remains committed to tagging-based measures, which Dib said were “the most appropriate approach” for many clients, especially smaller websites.

Stuart Pike, chair of the IAB's cross-industry committee on online ad measurement, was quoted in the press saying: “There is undoubtedly a place for a hybrid solution at some point, but for the immediate future our focus will be upon reviewing panel methodologies with a view to refining and tightening the current methodologies before they can be accredited.”

According to trade publication AdNews, Dib said the IAB was “taking the easy way out” with panel measurement, and hinted at shunning the accreditation process altogether. But Nielsen Online's international president Jonathan Carson told Research today that Dib's comments had been taken out of context, and that Nielsen and the IAB shared the long-term aim of pursuing both types of measurement.

Carson said: “The new focus that IAB Australia is putting on panels is fantastic – in fact we're about to launch a major new panel methodology in Australia. Nielsen's position is that panel data living alongside census data in a smart way is the best possible world, and the IAB are saying that's their long-term vision too. That's where Australia is now and we hope it will keep driving in that direction.”

Author: Robert Bain

Related links:

Joint initiative to develop European web measurement standards

IAB to develop web audience measurement guidelines