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October 7, 2009

Nielsen and IAB Display Ad Reports Off by $540 Million

A little addendum on some big numbers:

As a followup to my piece today on differences between online ad reports from TNS, Nielsen, and Interactive Advertising Bureau/PricewaterhouseCoopers, not only are the methodologies used by IAB far different from TNS and Nielsen, resulting in disparate ad spending growth rates, the actual dollar amounts estimated by Nielsen and IAB (TNS won't divulge theirs) are far off, too.

Nielsen's estimate for online display ad revenue in the first half of 2009 was $4.3 billion, according to my source there. The IAB, which measures several formats, estimated display spending ONLY in the same period at $3.76 billion. They include banners, rich media, video, and sponsorships in that number, yet the IAB's estimate is much more conservative: $540 million lower than Nielsen's display ad estimate in fact.

As I detail in my story today -- and in a previous piece about the Nielsen and TNS ad spending reports more specifically -- the IAB looks at ad revenue numbers provided by ad sellers and in tax filings, while the others estimate based on audience traffic, ad impressions and rate card prices.

I guess what I've been wondering lately, and why I've attempted to inspect online audience and ad measurement methodologies in recent years, is what are we supposed to make of these numbers if they're all so different? Publishers have been whining about third party audience measurement for years, but what about these spending reports?

They're among the few barometers we have for measuring the health of the online ad industry, and as far as I can tell, the state of the reports themselves could use a checkup.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Launches Smartphone Specific AdSense Units

In attempts to improve opportunities for advertisers and publishers on the mobile platform, Google is rolling out larger ad units for display on smartphones such as the iPhone and Android-enabled devices through its AdSense Mobile product.

Announcing the feature in a blog post, Google said the new units would "help to nurture the smartphone ecosystem by encouraging the creation of more mobile content and by helping advertisers to grow their businesses by reaching new audiences." It added that consumer experience would also be improved, since ads would load faster and fit better on smaller screens.

Mobile Internet access is growing rapidly in the U.S. and throughout Europe, largely thanks to the proliferation of handsets such as the iPhone, and the improved user experience afforded by the HTML-based browsers with which they ship. In the U.S., for example, mobile Web access grew 34 percent in the 12 months ending July '09, according to Nielsen Online.

With that in mind, it's unsurprising Google wants to enhance its mobile offering as it looks to replicate its dominant position in the desktop-oriented online ad world. The new units are live now in all territories in which AdSense is currently available, which is the vast majority of markets in which Google currently operates.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 6:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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