Audience measurement group ABC will release Audience-FAX on Nov.5, a new methodology that will combine print and online readership, as well as total website activity on ABC reports. Here are some details about audience measurements, which are essential to sell advertising.

About 200 newspapers are signed on so far for the Audience-FAX reports.

Audience reports are typically divided into two categories. Panel-based measurements, such as those provided by Nielsen, track the activity of a select panel of users and scale these numbers to fit the entire US population.

On the other hand, server-based measurements track the audience’s behavior directly from a website’s server, such as Google Analytics or Omniture.

Here are some of the pros and cons for each method:

- panel-based measurements can provide detailed information about demographics and most national advertisers use panel-based data. They are effective for measuring large sites with national audiences.
- Server-based measurements track a website’s total activity. They can also provide more detailed information about users’ usage and behavioral actions.

- panel-based measurements require a large panel to be somewhat accurate. It’s difficult for them to provide accurate information about smaller sites, or those that have significant foreign-based traffic. Panels can’t track traffic coming from new mobile devices.
- Server-based measurements can also factor in misleading data, such as search engine spiders and internal traffic. User cookie deletion can artificially inflate traffic numbers.

To produce its audits, ABC works with both panel-based and server-based measurement companies. But newspapers must first carefully choose which method to use, depending on the nature and the reach of their website.

Source: Editor & Publisher