The Redmond Reality

This Christmas past, I had more than one wish; in fact, I had three. Firstly, that one of my children becomes a child movie star soon, and buys us a small luxury house in Bali. Secondly, that I receive a call from superstar model and actress Megan Fox inviting me to dinner at Graze on Valentine's Day. And thirdly, that we in the advertising community are able to unify and agree on a common set of standards that can measure all online ad opportunities and user engagement.

There has already been much written on this topic, and considerable debate in the industry about standardising measurement methodology. So why is this relevant now, and what benefit would this have for advertisers? Isn't purchasing influencing the ultimate measurement?

The current economic crisis will force businesses to assess their expenditures even more carefully, and it is even more critical for online outlets to demonstrate solid ROI to retain and attract continued spend.

At the moment, there is no one way to measure online metrics that compares like with like, not least because different audiences view and interact differently with sites. The digital domain represents a significant opportunity for many of us in the industry, and if we are able to demonstrate clearer accountability of measurement, I firmly believe that these times of uncertainly will accelerate the pace of digital investments.

Despite recent reports indicating a pressure on marketing budgets, this is certainly not the reality for digital that we've observed. Numerous clients, agencies and media owners, who are operating or investing in the digital landscape have indicated an increase of between 200% to 400% in digital media in 2009. In fact, Synovate revealed in October 2008 its annual Pan Asia-Pacific Cross Media (PAX) survey findings, showing that consumers are spending more time online than ever - BDMs and top management engage the most time on the Internet, while a young upmarket audience spends more than 900 minutes per week on the Internet, a much higher engagement than on other media. Besides Synovate's findings, there are many positive examples of agencies and media owners collaborating on educational initiative to raise the bar on digital programmes to keep pace with client demand. Many agencies continue to invest in creative talent for the digital space.

There is a significant gap in the market, and that gap is online measurement. Advertisers will demand increased accountability, and as an industry we must focus on innovating and improving in this area - we cannot afford for digital measurement to be "same same, but different" any longer.

We need to come together to define the gold standard of measurement. We need independent voices to champion digital measurement the same way the IAB has begun to do so effectively in many parts of the world, and we need all media owners to provide consistent and transparent data. The challenge for the industry will be to develop a way to measure both online ad opportunities and page views with user engagement, so that we are able to demonstrate a metric that engenders clarity, transparency and trust from advertisers, media owners and agencies alike.

My New Year resolution is to help all I meet across the industry to understand the benefits of improved measurement and drive towards transparency and ROI through digital channels. And in case you need a slogan to remember this, here it is: Measurement > Efficacy = Gains Above Normal (MEGAN).

Gong Xi Fa Cai

By Richard Huggins, Microsoft Advertising's regional sales director SE Asia and acting GM.