Nielsen new website measurement system indicative of change ahead

Hong Kong - Following Nielsen NetRatings' announcement that its benchmarking tool to ensure accurate website reporting will be based on the measurement of average time spent and average number of sessions per visitor per site instead of traditional page-views, and Isobar has come out in support of it.

"This move in website reporting and measurement is one of many developments that Isobar has forecast for some time - the important thing for brands and agencies to realise is that although time has always been a key currency in marketing it is now not just about buying time, but about creating communication where consumers actually choose to spend time with brands," Nigel Morris, CEO of digital marketing agency Isobar, said.

Nielsen's switch in measurement from page views supports Isobar's viewpoint of ‘creating time', which the agency believes is the ‘new currency of marketing'. This concept seeks to leverage on consumer control and connection and apply it to moments, connections, experiences and actions that actively inspire consumers to spend time and participate with brands.

Nielsen's announcement of its switch in measurement is indicative of the trend of how video on-demand and new technologies have changed the way consumers spend their time online.

"We need to create situations where consumers actively seek to spend time with brands, time to search, explore, learn, share, question, play and even to buy. The skills required to engage with consumers today, are radically different from those currently held by the communications industry. If brands are not relevant to people's lives, they will be ignored," Morris said.