Bowman to Guide Internet Measurement Body

In the UK Peter Bowman, a veteran of joint industry initiatives including the NRS and BARB, has been appointed as the inaugural General Manager of JICIMS, the Joint Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems.

Bowman has direct experience of setting up a similar body, having also chaired the Steering Group for JICCAR (Joint Industry for Cable Audience Research), and as a consultant to the IAB has already been involved in work on JICIMS for some time. His career includes strategic, planning, buying and research roles in media owners and agencies including WCRS, MPG and Flextech.

At the recent MRG Conference in Vienna, Bowman explained that JICIMS will offer user-centric measurement, the converse of the site-centric measurement already provided by JICWEBS and ABCe: the online equivalent of the NRS as opposed to ABC ratings.

His new roles includes overseeing the formation of JICIMS Ltd as a stand-alone company, and leading development of proposals for an online planning currency similar to those run by BARB, NRS and RAJAR. In addition, he takes on the management of the quarterly online population survey, whose first results will be available in April to NRS and JICIMS subscribers, and whose data is also being made available to audience research companies to assist in weighting their panels.

IPA Research Director Lynne Robinson comments: 'Peter's appointment represents a significant step forward in providing comparative accountability for the online industry.' IAB Chief Exec Guy Phillipson adds: 'The appointment of Peter Bowman is a positive move and we look forward to the publication of the first results from the online population survey. Setting up JICIMS as a legal entity and developing a business case for a single planning currency are key roles.'

The committee's shareholders include senior figures from the AOP, IPA, IAB and ISBA. Thanks, for some of the above, to the IPA, online at www.ipa.co.uk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.