Representatives from AltaVista, OgilvyOne, Motorola, AdForce, Nielsen Media, DoubleClick, Arbitron and Media Metrix will meet next month in a roundtable assembled by online software company Radiate to discuss the possibility of setting standards for online and wireless audience measurement and Internet privacy.
“First of all, we are trying to determine if we need some kind of standard when measuring the consumer or the audience,” said Ehren Maedge, CEO of Radiate, Mountain View, CA. “If I say 'unique user,' what does that mean? Is it a visitor to a site, or somebody who has performed a transaction?
“Measurement is the biggest thing now. One analyst with Media Metrix can affect the share price of a dot-com company based on measurement figures,” he said.
The roundtable group, called the Radiate Internet Roundtable, is probing the topic of Internet privacy to determine how advertisers can sufficiently measure the activity of the end-user while adhering to privacy guidelines.
“We must determine how end-users like to be measured and what types of disclosure they are comfortable with,” Maedge said.
He added that Radiate — which provides software companies with the technology to market their services online — decided to launch the roundtable in order to determine how to successfully monetize the Internet.
“This roundtable presents itself as a perfect opportunity for those of us in the information-gathering side to interact with ad networks, technology providers and advertisers to discuss industry issues that must be addressed,” said roundtable member Steve Coffey, executive vice president at Media Metrix, New York.
The group plans to meet at Radiate's corporate headquarters.
Maedge noted that the group initially plans to determine whether industry standards should be established. If agreements are reached, the group hopes to influence regulatory or legislative establishments.
