While Internet businesses such as social networking and online gaming are booming in India, advertisers interested in putting their money in the medium are still struggling to find reliable sources of measuring reach, effectiveness etc., says Ratish Nair, chief executive of digital marketing company Interactive Avenues, in agencyfaqs.com. Even for a simple statistic on the number of Internet users, the range is wide from 12 million to 52 million, claims Nair. “The internet industry seriously lacks a standard accepted ratings/research set-up,” he says in his column. A standardised measurement system will boost online advertising. “The internet advertising industry will see a quantum jump, if advertisers saw numbers like campaign reach, frequency, reports like TAM, post-activity reports from agencies on deliveries. Their comfort on spending on the Internet would be far greater,” Nair wrote.
I couldn’t agree more with Nair. Good, clear and reliable data is the need of the hour.