Towell (pictured) oversaw initiatives such as the launch of the new Web Audit Service and the development of ‘Audit Bureaux of Australia’ (ABA) as an umbrella brand for ABC and CAB.

Director of audit services Paul Dovas will replace Towell as CEO later this month, while Towell is set to return to work in the private sector.

Meanwhile, a group of online publishers have signed up to the ABA’s campaign for measurement reform. Austereo, Allure Media and Independent Digital Media have committed to change the way their website audiences are counted by removing publisher-generated traffic – a page automatically reloading, for instance – from their figures.

The ABA said that this automated traffic does not represent activity from real people and can therefore inflate audience figures.