Measure for Measure

The Internet is "the most measurable medium," so perhaps not surprisingly, it's also the most measured medium, too. The problem is nobody's measurements ever seem to match, and sometimes they are not even in the same ballpark.

There are a number of reasons online measurement is such a mess. First, even at this late date, we're not all speaking the same language. Just last week, I heard one publisher proudly touting the number of "unique visits" (think about that one for a second!) they had achieved last month. And I still frequently hear about the number of "unique hits" this site or the other is experiencing. Until we get the language right, we have no hope of getting the measurement right.

Then there's the measurement process itself. A newly released study by Comscore suggests that so many users are now clearing the cookies on their computers that many sites are vastly over-reporting their unique visitors. Also this week is a report in the Wall Street Journal that Neilsen is dropping good old dependable pageviews as a reporting metric. Why? New Web 2.0 technologies such as Ajax deliver content in ways that the traditional pageview metric doesn't measure, meaning that sites will increasingly be under-counting pageviews while over-counting unique visitors.

Even more scary, this is just this week's news. There's been a steady drumbeat of reports pointing up the weaknesses of existing web analytics.

In short, Web technology is changing faster than measurement technology. This suggests that in the coming years, publishers that can describe their audience (through online registration or even companion print publications) will start to have a real competitive advantage over those who only quantify their audience in web-centric terms.

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Labels: analytics, comscore, wall street journal

A Real Time Launch for CSB

The CUSIP Service Bureau (CSB) this week launched its CSB-ISIN Look-up Service, a new offering that provides unique CUSIP-based International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) identifiers for more than 3.6 million securities and their issuers. The CSB launched the new service in response to clients who need to access these identifiers in real time. (Standard & Poor’s, a unit of McGraw-Hill runs the CSB for the American Bankers Association).

Users can now search the CUSIP-ISIN database to validate these ISINs after accepting a one-time click-through agreement. They can also use the service for free—at least for now. The cost-recovery fee is being waived for the rest of 2007 as the company gauges user interest.

This was a necessary next step for the CSB. Users' demand for access to real-time information continues to grow. In order to remain relevant to customers, service providers must provide content in real time and make it easily accessible. This new look-up service is designed to accomplish these goals. While the CSB doesn’t seem absolutely convinced (since they're letting users test drive it for free), it's more than likely they will be soon. Users should enjoy the free access while they can.

MuniNet Expands into Vertical Search

Through a partnership with the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA), MuniNet Guide has launched a new Web site. The Municipal Bond Research Gateway is essentially a database of Web sites for individuals seeking access to municipal bond issuer Web sites, disclosure and public finance materials.

The Gateway can be used like a traditional search engine: users can enter a keyword or geographical location to locate a link to a specific issuer. They can also search listings in a particular credit sector or company. Those sectors and categories each include specific issuers and links to other relevant organizations. They also contain additional news and MuniNet content.

The new site can be characterized as the combination of a vertical search engine and an online database product--it's really a blend of the two. The MuniNet folks have taken their traditional online database product and increased its functionality with the addition of vertical search capabilities with this new site. MuniNet, a directory of municipal-based content, has been serving this industry for 10 years, evolving from a print newsletter that launched in 1997 to the MuniNetGuide.com site in 2000. Now, the company is taking advantage the latest technology--vertical search--to improve the functionality of its offerings even more. MuniNet has built its reputation on helping users find what theyre looking for quickly. The Gateway launch will just help the company further solidify its position in the marketplace.

Acquisition is Interactive Data's Response to Customer Needs

Earlier this month, Interactive Data Corp. announced plans to acquire the market data unit of Xcitek LLC. Xcitek's market data is comprised of a wealth of information, including North American corporate actions data, reorganization information and cost basis and class action data. More than 2,000 financial institutions use Xcitek's data and receive it through several delivery platforms, including electronic datafeeds, proprietary Web-based services and various redistributors.

Interactive Data Corp. and Xcitek aren't strangers. The two organizations have collaborated for several years, redistributing each other’s data to their own clients. Once this deal is finalized, the shared data will become part of the Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data unit.

This is yet another case in which an acquisition is precipitated by customer need. Interactive Data officials recognized a need for more reference data services and they acted quickly to answer that call. Because the company had worked with Xcitek for many years, Interactive Data knew exactly where to find this valuable data. This particular deal is certainly a win-win situation for everyone involved. Customers get what they want and Interactive Data and Xcitek maintain (and even increase) their relevance in the marketplace.

Success Drives NADAguides.com and Experian Partnership

Last week, NADAguides.com and Experian Automotive announced plans to extend their partnership through 2009. NADAguides.com, a vehicle pricing and information site, has been tapping into Experian’s National Vehicle database to populate its vehicle history reports for the last three years. The database contains information on more than 500 million vehicles with reports available in a variety of packages--from single history to unlimited reports. (Experian Automotive is a division of Experian Inc.)

Overall, this partnership enables NADAguides.com to provide a complete slate of car-buying information services for site visitors. These consumers can search for car prices, car quotes, used care values and side-by-side comparisons.

Both companies said the benefits of their partnership were too great to let it end. Knowing that site visitors rely on Experian's database for answers, officials at NADAguides.com had to guarantee that a main traffic draw remained in place. The folks at Experian also recognize the value of their database and want to keep it in front of relevant consumers. Look for this partnership to be renewed well beyond 2009 and don't be surprised if Experian extends its list of partners during that time as companies continue to realize the value of such an extensive database. The company's technology is already used by other prominent automotive-based sites such as eBay Motors, Yahoo! Autos, CarsDirect.com and CarMax.com.

Labels: databases, experian, nadaguides