The Digital Media and Marketing Association (DMMA) has appointed an international online audience management company to help them in their quest to promote an accurate, efficient and cost effective digital publishing measurement. This is key to the growth of the local digital sector.
In a statement, the DMMA said the tender process allowed the elected sub-committee to evaluate a number of global suppliers and select the measurement solution most suited to the South African market place.
Key criteria for selection of the new vendor included a tag-based audience measurement service and media planning tool; the ability to implement a recruited audience panel to track activity beyond member sites; and a solution which ensured that South Africa remains a “single currency” market, with a central set of measurement data that can be referenced by all stakeholders.
James Robertson, Founder and SVP of Market Development, Effective Measure, said, ‘The enhanced digital planning capabilities of our suite will afford advertisers and media Agencies with exceptional detail about the digital consumer, providing data which is comparable with traditional mediums’.
The DMMA said it was vital that the successful vendor guarantee a cost effective service which didn’t hinder smaller publishers joining the DMMA, and which allowed large publishers to grow affordably; as well as a clear strategy for mobile and application (app) audience measurement.
The DMMA statement said that Effective Measure, who are head-quartered in Melbourne, Australia with offices in Dubai, New York, Sydney, Bangkok, and now in South Africa, not only met each criterion set out by the DMMA, but offer highly sophisticated tagging technology guaranteeing accurate data, which is easily understood. Their pricing structure will permit large media owners to better represent the various sections of their websites to the marketplace, and smaller media owners to participate for the first time.
In addition to this, and perhaps most importantly, the DMMA will now provide data to Telmar, the predominant strategic media planning software in South Africa. This will ensure, for the first time, that the digital audience is presented to media planners at the earliest stages of the planning process, ensuring digital is considered at the same time as the more traditional mediums.
Finally, and yet another first, Effective Measure will enable publishers to present audience demographics by site section, as opposed to by website only. This will provide clarity on specific audience segments within a site, thereby allowing digital advertisers to better reach and engage their target markets.
Josh Adler, Head of Measurement Tender for the DMMA, was impressed by the Effective Measure proposition, ’Effective Measure’s combination of technological innovation, service offering and track record in other key markets across the world provides a platform for aggressive sector growth through well-informed media planning decisions. The structure of the deal allows the DMMA to measure a far larger market footprint and share data with strategic partners to encourage investment.’
