October 22, 2010 at 10:45 AM

Effective Measure picked to provide common measurement standardPETALING JAYA: Digital advertising expenditure (adex) in the country is expected to grow faster with the launch of an official Internet audience measurement currency.

The Malaysian Digital Association (MDA), which comprises online publishers, advertising agencies and digital service providers, yesterday announced the appointment of Melbourne-based Effective Measure to provide the measurement system.

The hybrid system, combining panel-based system and website page tagging methodology, allows publishers and agencies that are MDA members to get basic site statistics, including basic demographics, page views and number of unique visitors, for free. Publishers would have to pay for more in-depth audience data.

MDA president Terence Dorairaj said the appointment of Effective Measure would provide a “completely unbiased and accurate” picture of Internet usage in Malaysia, providing advertisers, agencies and publishers with confidence in the medium.
“This standardisation will also bring much-needed credibility to (the digital media) and be a catalyst for growth of the digital adex,” he told a press conference yesterday.

He said advertising agencies represented in the MDA had agreed to make Effective Measure’s monthly dashboard report the de facto standard for online measurement.

“For the first time in Malaysia, online measurement will be on a level playing field, similar to measurement reports for television, radio and print,” he said.

Nielsen’s data showed that Internet advertising grew 22% last year to RM40.4mil based on data from six online players. Terence estimated the actual industry figure to be about RM70mil last year.

Effective Measure regional director (South-East Asia) Russell Conrad said online display advertising was estimated to be 1% to 3% of total adex in the country in the last five years, and he hoped that with the standardised Internet audience measurement currency, it could grow to between 3% and 7% in two to three years.

“Every year the penetration rate of digital media is growing, but the advertising spending has not been keeping up as a percentage of the adex pie. So it is critical to bring a source (of data) out there that can bring this to market,” he said.

Conrad estimated that the Internet adex was growing by 15% to 30% annually.Terence said Effective Measure, formed three years ago, was chosen over more-established market research players like comScore and Nielsen for factors such as affordability (in order to get mass adoption), easy-to-use system and the vendor’s flexibility.

Effective Measure has built up nearly 20,000 panellists and has tags on about 100 websites. “The combination of the data will provide an overview of the entire market, including international sites like BBC and New York Times as well as local sites. There are roughly 200 to 300 local sites and another 50 international sites which are significant, and we want to have all these websites represented in the tool,” Conrad said.

Malaysia was the first country in South-East Asia to have an association that formalised a single online measurement currency, he said.While MDA is using Effective Measure to get online audience statistics, it will continue to use Nielsen’s online adex measurement.
The MDA, formed towards the end of last year, has about 30 members, of which nine are publishers.

(Original Story: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/12/business/7205958&sec=business)