Microsoft to Test New Online Ad Measure

Microsoft is to test a new approach to measuring Internet ad campaigns, which supplements 'last ad clicked' metrics by taking into account all the online interactions that lead up to a purchase.

Called Engagement Mapping, the tool has been designed to help marketers understand the role different forms of online media play in affecting the purchase decision.

'The last-ad-clicked is an outdated and flawed approach because it essentially ignores all prior interactions the consumer has with a marketer's message,' said Brian McAndrews, SVP of the firm's Advertiser & Publisher Solutions division. 'Our new approach conveys how each ad exposure — whether display, rich media or search, seen multiple times on multiple sites and across many channels — influenced an eventual purchase.'

The new initiative follows Microsoft's acquisition of Internet ad agency aQuantive last May (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6819.htm ), and its recent pursuit of Yahoo! for an estimated $41bn. During this week's Interactive Advertising Bureau annual meeting, McAndrews said that combined, the firms would be able to compete much more effectively with Google.

National ad clients and agencies will be involved in the beta test of Microsoft's Engagement ROI, which evaluates and assigns measureable value to a consumer's interaction with ads, giving advertisers and publishers a more complete view of online behaviour. The reporting technology will be added to the company's Atlas Media Console, an ad campaign management system that Microsoft acquired when it bought aQuantive.

The beta officially begins on 1 March, with results expected to be available before the end of the second quarter. Web site: www.microsoft.com.

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