You can look at a websites analytics and see who, at that moment in time, is looking at the site, where they came from, how many pages they’ve viewed and so on. You can use other software, such as Zopim for example, to communicate instantly with any of the people on line.
That’s the type of data advantage that any ‘traditional’ medium is competing against. So why, when you have limited data in the first place, would you further curtail the potential information available to potential clients. This is what IN&M looks to have done on Thursday by opting to withdraw all its regional titles from the ABC verification process.
Now they have no data to provide to potential advertisers. Quoted in the Guardian a spokesman for IN&M said that the process was “too expensive a process” and that its results “did not resonate with local advertisers.”
In what respect did they not “resonate with local advertisers”, What are they supposed to rely on instead? The infamous “Publishers Statements” which, as I have said more than once, is as sincere as a kiss from a “Commercial sex worker” as they are euphemistically and politically correctly known as now – I’m told.
What about sales agencies like Mediaforce who represent the majority of these papers? What data will they have to present to the ad agencies now?
