Entrevista con Eric T Peterson

La dejamos aquí en inglés:

What do you think about the online advertising market relying mostly on audience panels? (Nielsen, in Spain’s case).

Audience panels are the status quo and make sense when making direct comparisons of related properties. WIthout comScore and Nielsen, and start-ups like Quantcast, it would be very difficult for advertisers to develop a reliable sense of where audiences and demographics are. My frustration with panel data stems from attempts to align panel-based and census- (e.g., web analytics) numbers -- an exercise in futility usually!

Is Internet Measurement reliable. Does it require auditing?

No and it depends. Most companies fail to grasp the level of inaccuracy associated with measurement in online today. People who complain endlessly about panel-based systems that are solidly grounded in age-old statistical models but don't even bother to asses the quality of data (or lack thereof) coming from their Omniture/WebTrends/Coremetrics/Google Analytics implementation.

I say "it depends" to the auditing question because, well, it depends. If you are reporting numbers to an outside agency who will use those numbers to make a financial decision, yes, you should be audited. But if you're using numbers to run your company I don't think auditing is as necessary as simply having well-understood data management and data validation processes internally.

Could you give us the “pros” and “cons” of the pixel system (used by OJD in Spain) against the panels provided by Nielsen or Comscore?

Again, the two are really best not compared. Broadly speaking pixels are for internally facing measurement and panels are for externally faxing measurement. There are some exceptions here in the U.S. but for the most part this is the use model. Don't try and compare the two is my advice.

Could you give us three basic recommendations to attract more visitors to a website?

Spend a lot of money on marketing, spend a lot of money on advertising, be well-ranked in Google.

Is SEO the most optimal short term growth method?

SEM is the most effective short-term traffic growth model. SEO is more long-term in my experience. This fits well with the investment curve as well I think.

What do you think of Google stepping into online audience measurement? How far can it go?

The only safe assumption with Google is that "they will" -- they will launch products that directly compete with the market (and their customers and partners), they will improve those products, and they will do it with a nice smile on their face. Fortunately a great many of Google's non-core products leave a great deal to be desired and are driven as much by the PR hype machine as any real substantial value they provide.

Should Comscore and Nielsen be afraid of Google AdPlanner?

Naw, comScore and Nielsen are well (entrenched and are unlikely to be displaced by a side) project at Google. In my opinion, Quantcast perhaps should fear AdPlanner since they are well/deployed but not well entrenched. I have not looked at AdPlanner much but again, if you have been using Nielsen for 10 years and your agency uses Nielsen.. you're not just going to drop Nielsen for a free product uses Nielsen.. you're not just going to drop Nielsen for a free product frm Google.

Gracias a Sergio Maldonado por concedernos la entrevista previa al Evento de MV Consultoría. Además, acompaña a Eric.