ABC to measure digital circulation

Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), an independent body that provides data on newspaper and magazine circulation, today said it is foraying into measurement of digital properties' readership.
"This is the first such initiative to offer industry-accredited digital measurement. The service, which goes live from third quarter of 2016, fills an important gap for digital property owners by offering them precise audience metrics," it said in a statement.
The digital measurement is backed by Nielsen's technology and will provide end-to-end measurement across devices.
"The rate at which spends are shifting to digital, it has now become imperative to have a transparent system for understanding digital audiences, whether they are accessing information on websites or apps, from their PCs, tablets or mobile phones.

"This digital measurement service will add to ABC's existing circulation audit service for publications. We are not restricting ourselves to the print publisher fraternity, but will extend the service to include digital property owners across sectors," ABC Chairman Shashidhar Sinha said.
Across media segments, digital media is witnessing the highest year-on-year growth of nearly 30 per cent. While there are some marketers who have allocated over 20 per cent of their marketing budget on digital media, nearly all brand marketers are looking to spend more.

The solution deployed by Nielsen measures audiences consistently across PCs and mobile phones and will provide the media industry with highly accurate measurement of online text content, as well as key performance metrics such as reach, frequency and demographics.

"We know it is essential to understand digital consumption patterns to truly understand today's consumer. For the digital property owners community, the industry-backed numbers will lend credibility and provide a massive boost to their growing digital presence.
"This sophisticated solution will address fragmentation across niche digital properties, user segments of all sizes and most importantly, a complete view across devices - giving advertisers and agencies a comprehensive picture and measure of return on investment for their digital spends," Nielsen India Region Managing Director Prashant Singh said.