Better Measures for Web Ads

These two metrics would allow Web site publishers to better understand how their visitors are using the Internet. It would allow advertisers to distinguish between the time that a site is simply open on a browser vs. the time someone is actively navigating through and engaging with that site.

At ComScore, we plan to introduce a engaged duration metric this year. We're able to track engagement with a Web entity with software that allows us to "see" exactly what applications or sites users are interacting with. Even if users have three or four browser windows open at once, we can track when a particular window becomes active.

Some of you might be rolling your eyes and saying the last thing we need is more metrics. But I disagree. Consumers use online media in different ways. We need to make sure that we keep developing metrics that are driven by consumer experience, that are customer-focused.

If measures of online consumption more accurately reflect the ways consumers spend time with different Web sites and online applications like gaming and instant messaging, then publishers and developers could do a better job of giving consumers the kind of Web content they want.

Internet audience measurement helps facilitate the buying and selling of advertising, but the right metrics serve to provide consumers with a direct means of providing feedback about how they spend their most precious resource online -- their time.

Josh Chasin is the chief research officer for ComScore, a Reston media research company. The commentary was adapted from a posting on the company blog,http://www.comscore.com/blog.