Newspaper web traffic measurement tools to go 'under review'

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The Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS) is to review the manner in which analytical data used in Audit Bureau of Circulation Electronic (ABCE) audits of newspaper website traffic is gathered.

The move follows speculation that the use of a variety of analytical technologies could result in an uneven set of traffic results.

Currently newspaper publishers are free to choose one of several approved technologies with which to collect their web data.

Concerns of rival newspaper groups were raise as Telegraph.co.uk added over six million unique users in two months after switching from an approved data collecting tool called HBX SiteCatalyst to another approved tool called WebTrends 7 On Demand.

Representatives from the Telegraph attributed the growth to the increasing popularity of its editorial content , its endeavours to create compelling in-depth coverage of events - such as the budget - and its increased use of video.

JICWEBS today issued a statement saying that all audited figures for national newspapers online certified by ABCE are in full compliance with current industry agreed standards but that a review would look into the 'minor variances' using different tools could bring.

"The evolution of the analytical approaches means that within these standards minor variances can occur depending on the analytics tools being used to count traffic," said the statement.

Newspaper representatives to JICWEBS will meet in the next few weeks to review metric standards and to decide whether or not to make any recommendations on their use to the committee.

"Audit standards must evolve alongside the fast moving digital publishing sector," said Zach Leonard, Times Online publisher and newspaper representative to JICWEBS.

"Working closely with JICWEBS and ABCE we're confident that our efforts in this area will continue to provide robust and transparent data on national newspapers online, so that publishers can continue to trade competitively and fairly with agencies and advertisers."