Ad trade group challenges Web statistics providers

Concerned about ratings inconsistencies and lack of metrics standards, the trade group of U.S. online ad sellers is challenging the two major Web traffic trackers to be more transparent and open about their methodologies.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) said Friday that it has sent a letter to comScore Networks and Nielsen//NetRatings asking them to let an independent auditor examine their Web measurement practices.

“You can have one site and the numbers from Nielsen, comScore, and the site’s own numbers are all different. There’s probably a reason why that’s happening and no way to determine where these discrepancies come from until they get audited,” said Sheryl Draizen, the IAB’s senior vice president and general manager.

Every other medium’s audience rating systems gets audited, except for the Internet’s, she said. The IAB has been asking Internet audience rating companies for years to submit to an independent audit but they have refused, Draizen said. With the strong growth in online advertising in recent years, the need for more transparency in ratings continues to increase.

“Our first request dates probably from 1999, but in the last couple of years we’ve been more vocal. It’s taking too long and the problem gets highlighted now because marketers are allocating more dollars to the Internet. It becomes more important that they have confidence in the numbers they’re using to make decisions,” she said.

“You have companies publishing metrics that have a material impact on the marketers’, the agencies’ and the publishers’ business, and no one knows where the numbers are coming from. That’s a real problem,” Draizen added.

Specifically, the IAB wants standards for how a Web measurement company defines metric parameters like unique visitors and time spent at a site. The organization also wants these companies to discard what it considers outdated metrics, she said.

The IAB is suggesting Nielsen/NetRatings, comScore and any other such company to agree to an audit from the Media Rating Council (MRC), an organization established decades ago to vet companies that measure media audiences and issue ratings.

The IAB has posted a copy of Friday’s statement and of its letter to comScore and Nielsen/NetRatings on its Web site.

The IAB represents 332 media organizations that generate 86 percent of the online ad revenue in the U.S.

Neither comScore nor Nielsen/NetRatings immediately replied to requests for comment.