IMRB

Now the Internet can be measured. Not just on how many people access the net but also their profile by age, sex and demographics, which regions, and whether they do this on weekdays or weekends, at office, home or elsewhere. All this has been made possible by a new service launched by IMRB International, the pioneers in market research in India. Like its predecessors – TAM for TV and RAM for Radio – WAM for the Internet is based on a panel of people who have a unique metering device that is custom built for India.

Over the last decade, the Internet has seen exponential growth, from 25,000 users in 1998 when IMRB International released the first-ever data on Internet access, to 50 million active Internet users in 2009-10, as per the recent IMRB Survey, I-Cube 2009-10.

"We can now say that we are truly in the Age of the Internet" said Thomas Puliyel, President, IMRB International. "With WAM we can fully realise the potential of the Internet as an advertising and marketing medium. We will be able to measure the effectiveness of the medium in terms of reach and frequency, just like any other medium."

The just launched service already has created a stir among advertising media companies, portals and Internet publishers. Vikram Sakhuja, CEO South Asia at GroupM, says "We welcome this initiative. It is great to see solid Market Research fundamentals being used along with digital technology to do web measurement."

About Web Audience Measurement (WAM):

The system which follows the traditional tenets of audience measurement has been piloted for over six months. The panel based approach adopted by WAM system has been made possible due to a unique metering technology custom built for Indian market. The meter is capable of capturing Internet usage data from multiple machines and still attribute to the same panellist. Further, the meter allows the flexibility of capturing only the panel member’s data in case the machine is used by multiple users. The meter can capture data from multiple browsers (all versions of IE, all versions of Chrome, Firefox, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and MSN Messenger). The data reporting is being done through the well established Media Xpress tool customized for the Internet market. The reporting tool called Web Xpress allows pre and post media planning, duplication analysis and profiling apart from the usual trending tools. The tool is also capable of reporting at day level and at day-part level.

The biggest issue seen with the Internet is lack of currency that determines the success of online campaigns. So far the online media agencies and publishers have been using estimates and measurements which are convenient to them. This leads to confusion amongst advertisers for they have to learn a new set of definitions altogether and also rely on what the media owners tell them what is good for their brands. The WAM system is a joint effort of IMRB International and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

About IMRB International:

Established in 1971, IMRB International is a pioneer in market research. IMRB is a member of the Kantar Group, part of the WPP company. Kantar is one of the world’s largest consumer insight networks. IMRB's footprint extends across 26 offices in 14 countries – Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Netherland, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, UAE and United Kingdom. With over 1200 full time staff, IMRB provides high quality conceptualisation, strategic thinking, execution and interpretation skills. IMRB International is the only research company in India that offers such a wide range of research based services to its clients. IMRB International's specialized areas includes consumer market research both quantitative and qualitative, industrial market research, business to business market research, social and rural market research, media research, retail research, and consumer panels.

For more details contact:

Seema Saini

Head Corporate Communications IMRB International 4th Flr, ‘A’ Wing, Mhatre Pen Building; Senapati Bapat Road; Mumbai 400 028; INDIA Tel: 91-22-2423 3213 (DID), Fax: 91-22-2430 4870, Cell: 91-9820626170

Urban Scape 2009, from IMRB's Media & Panel unit is now available for subscription. The first edition, published in 2006, was used by over 600 marketing and advertising professionals, and countless other business school graduates who used it as a must-read book for understanding the Indian consumer.