Newspaper body unveils tool to give planners extra insight

by John Reynolds, Media Week 12-Aug-08, 07:30

LONDON - The Newspaper Marketing Agency is launching a new tool, providing data such as how long users spend on newspapers' websites, to give agencies and advertisers a more detailed picture of the reach of newspapers' online operations.

The trade body will produce Newspapers Online Analytics, part of its wider PressClick planning initiative, every month, offering agency planners information such as the number of visitors by day and by hour of the day, and how long they spend on newspapers' websites.

Steve Goodman, managing director of print trading at GroupM, said the new data will be "invaluable" in helping planners maximise the impact of clients' expenditure, and adds "another level of depth to information from other sources".

Newspapers Online Analytics, which will be free of charge, will be complementary to other data, such as ABCe, providing additional information including dwell time on newspaper websites.

Maureen Duffy, chief executive of the Newspaper Marketing Agency, said: "Advertisers and their agencies rightly demand transparency and accountability from newspapers. PressClick is an important initiative to ensure that we give them as much information as we can about the online audience for national newspapers.

"PressClick will provide media planners and buyers with new data, analysis and insights to add to their knowledge of the online newspaper audience."

In May, the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS), which advises ABCe on its measurement methods, agreed to a review of the tools and standards that publishers use to record web traffic, prompted by concerns raised by newspaper groups over the reliability of ABCe data.

These concerns were first raised by executives from several national newspaper groups after Telegraph.co.uk added five million unique users between February and March.

Rival online newspaper publishers, including guardian.co.uk, Times Online and Mail Online, questioned if a change in reporting software had played a part in Telegraph.co.uk's traffic leap in March.