Internet Advertising Bureau to monitor online ad spend
UK advertising spend on the Internet is to be audited every quarter by the Internet Advertising Bureau as a means of showing growth and encouraging further investment.
The IAB – an association of 36 publishing groups and sales houses who either own or sell space on more than 150 UK Websites – hopes to track the nature and volume of ad spend on a quarterly basis with accountant Coopers & Lybrand.
Advertisers will be able to monitor the amount of money being spent in their particular category – for example, whether it is by car manufacturers or the IT industry. The statistics will also show where ads are placed on Websites.
“We’re inviting all UK new media owners and sales houses to take part, whether they are members of the IAB or not,” says Tom Bowman, chairman of the market statistics sub-committee of the IAB. “We’ll cover the costs of running the project and Coopers & Lybrand will guarantee that the data it supplies remains confidential.”
Comparative figures are expected to be produced for the first quarters of 1998 and 1997 in May.
It will be possible to make comparisons with those statistics produced by the IAB’s sister organ- isations in the US and the other European countries where Coopers & Lybrand manage similar projects.
Members of the IAB include the BBC, Yahoo!, Electronic Telegraph, and Condé Nast.
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