Quantcast adds video and widget use to online measurement services
With both online video and widgets growing in online marketing, marketers that use those media want to know if customers and potential customers are actually engaging with the features. In response, Quantcast.com, an Internet site that tracks and segments traffic to web sites, has added video and widget measurement to its service.
The service, available now but still in a beta testing program, reports on the amount of video and widgets engaged by consumers by recording the number of visitors reached, the number of times an application was played, and the application category. The full offering will include frequency and distribution and traffic demographic and lifestyle analysis, based on its proprietary algorithm, according to the company.
The service, which reports on consumption of all Flash-based media, can measure results on both web-based and downloaded desktop widgets. Widgets are plug-in software applications that bring to users’ screens live content such as advertisements, links and images from a third-party site. The widget and video consumption measurement, an adjunct to Quantcast service that tracks similar use metrics on other content at publisher sites, is aimed at helping publishers and marketer sites increase revenue by defining audiences and their value, according to the company.
Konrad Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Quantcast Corp., notes that daily usage of both online video and widgets is up exponentially over the past year. “The mandate is clear. If publishers want to attract more advertising dollars, publishers must measure and understand their video and widget audiences,” he says.
The measurement service is currently free to qualified web publishers and web sites that join the program. Quantcast, a venture capital-backed start-up, is reviewing several revenue models but does not intend to start charging for the free service, says a company spokeswoman.
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