ABCe to provide user profiles in web traffic audits

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The Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe) is to use on-site reader questionnaires to provide profile information on website users in addition to its web traffic reports.

The data collected by the site surveys will be sample-based and will cover country of residence, age, gender, social grade, postcode, marital status, ITV region and media consumption habits, a press release from the bureau said.

The information will be presented alongside figures for unique users and page impressions as part of an 'enhanced certificate' from the ABCe.

Developed and piloted with research consultancy Survey Interactive , the on-site questionnaires have been approved by the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS) .

"The initiative represents a significant shift for many media owners with vertical, niche and specialist properties, who, until now, have been off the radar of sample-based research," said Richard Foan, managing director of ABCe, in the release.

"The integrated audit complements the web measurement approaches already out there and will further add to our understanding. By combining web traffic audits with visitor profiling methodology, media owners, agencies and advertisers will be able to plan media campaigns in a more transparent way."

Survey Interactive has previously trialled new audience measurement methods on Trinity Mirror's regional newspaper websites aimed at establishing the 'unduplicated reach' of the titles.

Commenting on today's ABCe announcement, Guy Lipscombe, the consultancy's managing director, said the scheme 'takes measurement of the internet to the next level where transaction data is put into context with visitor profiling information'.