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News International leads development of mobile traffic metric

Posted: 06/03/08 By: Laura Oliver

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News International is developing a measurement system for traffic to its mobile content with the aim of creating a standard metric for mobile publishing.

The Sun, The Times, the News of the World and Sky will all participate in the Leadership in Mobile plan, which will measure traffic generated from across the publishers' mobile offering, includes dedicated internet sites and downloadable Java applications.

In addition, traffic to News International content from all mobile devices and through network operator portals will be incorporated into the figures.

News International has approached other publishers about the scheme, the formula for which is being developed by mobile market and research firm Mediacells, in the hope of creating a common measurement system for mobile publishing.

A standard metric is needed to avoid the plurality of systems currently available to measure web traffic and to bring together traffic streams created by different devices and access points to mobile content, Bill Akass, editorial development director for News Group, told Journalism.co.uk.

The system will provide independent analysis of mobile traffic for publishers to present to advertisers and help them better understand how their content is being used, he added.

"We recognise that a lot publishers are trying to get into mobile, but it's hugely fragmented and more complex than the web," said Akass.

"On a mobile phone content might be rendered differently. What counts as a page impression online, might not count on a mobile, so sometimes it doesn't really reflect the value of the content.

"I can see day-to-day logs of what pages have been viewed on mobile, but I'd like to have something with more granular detail."

News International is planning to publish monthly figures using the new metric from April.

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