NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Re: Are <ALT= > tags considered banner impressions?
ONLINE-ADS>> Re: Are <ALT= > tags considered banner impressions?
Jim Waltz (jwaltz_at_dmn.com)
Tue, 17 Sep 1996 13:13:14 -0400
>>(2) For advertisers who want to verify the exact number of banner loads, and
>>who don't trust the webmaster's server counts, load the ad directly from the
>>advertiser's web site. (This does require that the advertiser maintain a
>>fast, responsive web site able to handle the traffic, and of course a
>>separate banner file for each ad placement.)
>>
>The bottom line is that all of this is fantasy.
>
>1) Most servers log the "loading" of a file when it ends, even if the user
>aborts the transfer. Any record of a user_abort generally doesn't show what
>elements were being transferred at the instance of the abort.
>
>2) Sensible web sites make extensive use of caching. If the target element
>is in cache, then it isn't even fetched, so it doesn't get logged except at
>the cache site.
>
>The Industry, the people in it, and those advertising on it simply have to
>come to terms with the horrible facts that in the end the only thing that
>counts, and the only thing that in fact CAN be counted, is delivered
>prospects, which means that the sites hosting the ads will have to tally
>click-throughs and the sites paying for the ads will have tally
>"HTTP_REFERER's" which means that all the target pages will either have to
>be cgi-bin script driven, or duplicated so that each advertising site is
>delivering to a unique URL.
I disagree. you CAN get an accurate count of the number of times a graphic
banner has been loaded. There are ways to defeat caching, and you can
also get a good idea of how many times the banner didn't load. The main
consideration here is that as a publisher, you can't be held responsible
for the effectiveness of an advertiser's copy or the response to their
message and product. Publishers have no control over this- they are merely
responsible for getting ads in front of a target market.
Think of magazine advertising. Although not a perfect comparison, you have
to consider the fact that magazines cannot possibly know how many times a
particular ad is seen in their publication, if at all! The same holds true
for TV. They have to use their best guess and couple it with statistical
studies of their readership/viewership to try to get a fuzzy picture of who
saw what pages. The web is much, much more accurate and advanced in this
regard.
I have sold lots of ads, mostly very large ones to the premier ad agencies.
The issue of Alt tags has come up occassionally, with some agencies
requiring that either the graphic or a 50 word text description loads.
Some agencies accept an effectively written Alt tag for this description,
while others want a separate line of text underneath the banner. In any
case, I have found that counting the number of pages loaded is often a very
accurate way of determining the number of impressions served for a banner.
We have conducted an internal study that confirms this to within +/- 2%,
surely a smaller margin of error than any magazineor TV station could
confidently quote. So where's the beef?
Honestly, when you consider the capabilities of other forms of media, the
issue of unloaded graphics can't be used as a justification for adding the
burden of message accountability on the backs of Web publishers instead of
advertisers.
Also, I have also found that in general advertisers don't consider third
party auditing a major issue. Some require it, but most do not. If it
becomes a big issue, our solution is to allow the advertiser to serve the
graphic themselves or hire a third party of their own with our full
cooperation. This has worked great so far. Basically, the agency is
mainly concerned with getting timely traffic reports that reflect a
successful campaign. It would be hard to fool advertisers on the number of
impressions and click-thrus their ad receives. If there is any doubt about
results, they usually have the capacity to extrapolate click-throughs from
their client's data and can compare that info with our reports to look for
any discrepencies.
In short, the Web has many advantages over other forms of media, including
real-time interactivity and more accurate measurablility. It's a great way
to advertise, and will only get better as the leaders on this list forge
ahead and build a solid foundation for accountable and successful
advertising.
"Casbah--if music is your life's passion, we've got the aphrodisiac."
Casbah- http://casbah.dmn.com/
Win a free CD! Enter Casbah's Cowabunga CD Giveaway today!
Jim Waltz, Director Sales & Marketing Digital Music Network
jwaltz_at_dmn.com 319 Main Street,
Stoneham, MA 02180 p: 617.279.2895 f: 617.279.3507
DMN Media- reach 30 million raving online music fans. http://www.dmn.com/media
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