Using audience metrics to grow revenue

January 2010

Audience metrics

• Analytics– Log-based vs. JavaScript

• Glossary of terms• IAB size units• Tracking online advertising• Need to know information

What are analytics?

• Measure traffic to your site– Who, what, when, where

• Page views• Unique visitors• Time spent • Visits

Types of analytics?

• Two types of analytics– Site traffic or Web page

• Omniture• Google Analytics• Murlin Stats

– Ad traffic• OAS• DoubleClick• Atlas• AdSys

Web page analytics

Understand how your metrics are computed

Analytics-comparison

• Log-based analytics– Urchin– Webalizer– Webtrends

• JavaScript-based analytics– Google Analytics– Omniture– Nielson NetTracker

Log-based analytics

• Pros– Easy to implement– No missed pages– Records all traffic

• Cons– Bot and spider traffic

is recorded– Can be accidentally

inflated by bad coding

• Pros– More accurate

determination of what is a page view

– Filters out most bots and spiders

– Can track usage on other vendors (Legacy.com, hosted AP, etc…)

– Does not count cached pages

• Cons– Code must be

added to each page– Third-party vendors

can add additional cost

– Transition to using these metrics can be difficult

JavaScript-based analytics

Glossary

This is a hit

Hits

Anatomy of a web pageURL

http://domain.com/http://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/styles/skin.csshttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/editorial/editorial-core-base-v0-4-1/resources/styles/print.csshttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/styles/site.csshttp://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.1/jquery.min.jshttp://e.yieldmanager.net/script.jshttp://stats.townnews.com/shared-content/stats/common/tracker.jshttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/styles/reset_960.csshttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/styles/facebox.csshttp://open.ad.yieldmanager.net/a1?V=2&pubId=23120180614&site=domain.com&cntTy=js&cTopId=20201001&ctry=us&sz0=728x90&dlv0=ipatf&sltId0=0&sz1=88x31&dlv1=ipatf&sltId1=1&sz2=300x250&dlv2=ipatf&sltId2=2&sz3=800x600&dlv3=ipatf&sltId3=3&sz4=120x90&dlv4=ipbtf&sltId4=4&sz5=120x90&dlv5=ipbtf&sltId5=5&sz6=728x90&dlv6=ipbtf&sltId6=6&tagTy=multi_static&nAdP=7&rFrame=1&flv=9.0&cb=1239036000614&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdomain.com%2Fhttp://stats.townnews.com/domain.com/?title=QCTimes&referrer=&domain=domain.com&uri=/http://domain.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/2/91/9f9/2919f944-22c8-11de-9cee-001cc4c03286.preview-100.jpghttp://domain.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/8/18/b75/818b750e-22b8-11de-8831-001cc4c03286.preview-300.jpghttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/images/bg.gifhttp://domain.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/9/22/e61/922e6106-214a-11de-8118-001cc4c002e0.preview-100.jpghttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/images/logo.gifhttp://domain.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/9/e4/acb/9e4acb64-14c0-11de-968c-001cc4c002e0.preview-100.gifhttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/images/yahoo_search.gifhttp://domain.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/a/68/ee1/a68ee188-208d-11de-8816-001cc4c03286.preview-100.jpghttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/images/search_btn.gifhttp://domain.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/4/d0/14a/4d014a5c-1bbf-11de-a2c4-001cc4c03286.preview-100.jpghttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/images/main_tab.gifhttp://domain.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/6/81/782/68178236-1bc2-11de-a2fd-001cc4c03286.preview-100.jpghttp://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/images/toggles.gifhttp://domain.com/app/pages/calendar/events/js/widget.php?random=1http://domain.com/content/tncms/live/global/resources/images/comment_icon.gif

A typical Web page may have 100 or more items that are loaded.

Each one of those calls will record an entry in the log file of the Web server.

Glossary

• Hit -– When users access a Web site, their

computer sends a request to the site's server to begin downloading a page. Each element of a requested page (including graphics, text, and interactive items) is recorded by the site's Web server log file as a "hit." If a page containing two graphics is accessed by a user, those hits will be recorded once for the page itself and once for each of the graphics. Webmasters use hits to measure their servers' workload. Because page designs and visit patterns vary from site to site, the number of hits bears no relationship to the number of pages downloaded, and is therefore a poor guide for traffic measurement.

Banned

•Page view -– When a page is

displayed successfully on the user's computer screen.

Glossary

Glossary

• Visitor - – Individual or browser

that accesses a Web site within a specific time period.

Glossary

• Unique user - – Unique individual or browser that has

either accessed a site (see unique visitor) or been served unique content and/or ads such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials and pop-under ads. Unique users can be identified by user registration or cookies. Reported unique users should filter out bots.

Glossary

• RON (Run-of-Network) -– The scheduling of Internet advertising whereby

an ad network positions ads across the sites it represents at its own discretion, according to available inventory. The advertiser usually forgoes premium positioning in exchange for more advertising weight at a lower CPM.

• ROS (Run-of-Site) –– The scheduling of Internet advertising whereby

ads run across an entire site, often at a lower cost to the advertiser than the purchase of specific site sub-sections.

• Third-party ad server -– Independent, outsourced companies that

specialize in managing, maintaining, serving, tracking and analyzing the results of online ad campaigns. They deliver targeted advertising that can be tailored to consumers' declared or predicted characteristics or preferences.

• Abort -– When a Web server does not successfully

transfer a unit of content or ad to a browser. This usually is caused by a user hitting the stop button or clicking on another link prior to the completion of a download.

Glossary

• Ad download -– When an ad is downloaded by a server to a

user’s browser. Ads can be requested but aborted or abandoned before actually being downloaded to the browser, and the user would not see the ad.

Glossary

Know your digital ABCs.

While online advertising is a big opportunity, newspapers

make a mistake by not being conversant in IAB-size

ad units.

Glossary

• Banner/Leaderboard ad– 728 x 90 Horizontal, rectangular ads

typically displayed at the top or bottom of a Web page.

Glossary

• Skyscrapers– 160 x 600 Vertical, rectangular

ads typically displayed on the left or right side of a Web page.

Glossary

• Medium rectangle/Big ad/In-story ad– 300 x 250

Impression and click-thru

• Impression is defined as a view of a single ad unit.

• Click-thru is counted when a user clicks on an ad unit.

These numbers are reported from the ad-serving software

Useful metrics

• What sections of my site are people visiting?

More useful info

Average length of visit and average page views per visitor are great metrics for measuring how effective your website is.

Site metrics-traffic

• More than 11.8 million unique monthly visitors

• More than 194.7 million monthly page views

• More than 13 minutes per visit• More than 16 pages viewed per

person

Source: Nielsen//Netratings

DotConnect Media site metrics

DotConnect Media user demographics

2.4 million visitors age 18-344.7 million visitors age 35-498.1 million visitors age 25-542.8 million visitors age 55 plus

Source: Nielsen//Netratings

DotConnect Media user demographics

• More than 30% of visitors have a household income greater than $100,000

• More than 50% have a bachelor’s degree or higher

• More than 33% are employed in professional, executive or managerial positions

Source: Nielsen//Netratings

January 2010

Questions

Thanks

Charles Kolsky ckolsky@townnews.c

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