Appointment brings online planning currency closer

by James Livesley, Media Week 13-Mar-07

An online planning currency will be developed in three phases, beginning this month, the newly appointed general manager of the joint industry committee for internet measurement (Jicims) has told Media Week.

Richard Bowman, formerly a commercial strategist at Flextech's UKTV, has
been appointed this week by the four trade bodies who make up JICIMS -
AOP, IAB, IPA and Isba.

He will be responsible for the National Readership Survey - a quarterly

planning survey that now incorporates questions about online audiences

and is seen as the first step towards an online planning currency.

The NRS data will launch this month and its first results will be made
available to NRS and Jicims subscribers in April. In June, there will be
a joint industry decision on whether to give a green light to the
currency. And by Christmas, JICIMS hopes to have appointed a research
company to develop and distribute the information, following a tender
process.

The NRS aims to standardise the information provided by the three
organisations that measure online audiences - the most commonly used
being Nielsen//NetRatings, comScore and BMRB/TGI.

Their methods vary and the lack of consistent online data has been an
ongoing issue for the industry.

Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB, said that Bowman's first
goals should be "setting up Jicims as a legal entity and developing a
business case for a single planning currency". Bob Wootton, director of
media and advertising at Isba, added that Bowman would help the industry
"develop the kind of audience tools it needs".

Bowman has held research executive roles at WCRS and MPG and has been
involved in joint industry bodies before as he has represented agencies
with the NRS and Barb for several years. He has also established a joint
industry committee before when he set up Jiccar (Joint Industry
Committee for Cable Audience Research).

He is now responsible for building a framework for the proposed online
planning currency that could sit alongside existing industry
measurements such as Barb, NRS and Rajar.