Publishers, ABCe closing in on mobile measurement

LONDON - Momentum is building for the launch of an "ABCe for mobiles" to record user traffic to publishers' mobile sites, with ABCe close to agreeing a suitable measurement standard.

The ABCe and the GSMA, the global trade association for mobile phone network operators, are working together on the development of industry standards for reporting web traffic over mobile.

But with ABCe managing director Richard Foan admitting that the two bodies are yet to agree measurement standards, it has emerged that, in the interim period, media owners are examining additional means of tracking the usage of their mobile sites.

Andrew Bagguley, head of mobile strategy at News Group Newspapers, said the company is working with mobile metric firms such as Bango, M Metrics and Mediacells, to measure visitor numbers to The Sun and News of the World mobile portals.

The "Leadership in Mobile" initiative, undertaken by Mediacells, examines the usage of mobile sites operated by Sky Sports, Sky News, The Sun and Turner Broadcasting and has already concluded its first leg of research.

The study reveals that 56% of all news mobile sites were accessed by BlackBerry users and peak times for news on mobile sites mirrors that of television, with 6pm, 9pm and 10pm proving the most popular access points.

However, formulating a system that compares like-for-like unique user visits per month to newspapers' mobile sites, in the same way that the ABCe currently does for the internet, is proving complicated.

According to Metro head of digital Jamie Walters, greater cooperation is needed with mobile operators and handset manufacturers.

Walters said: "Operators strip out the cookies when you go from one site to another, so it's hard to measure unique user numbers.

"We are currently relying on page impressions. Also, different mobile handsets have different ways of accessing websites and this needs to be standardised, which is an issue for the manufacturers."

The ABCe's Foan said cooperation between mobile phone networks and media owners is going to be crucial to finalise an ABCe for mobile.

The establishment of an agreed system of measuring publishers' mobile traffic comes as a review of measurement standards for the UK's national newspaper websites is about to commence.

Last week, the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards, which advises ABCe on its measurement methods, agreed to a review of the tools and standards that publishers use to record web traffic.

Anne-Marie Corvin
MediaWeek
28th May