Effective Measure expands its network within the Middle East

Q&A with Effective Measure, the leading audience measurement firm, following the $4 million fund from US-based Rho Ventures, where we discuss the current situation in the online media market, and their future plans.

Q. Any future plans to expand within the MENA region, and/or other regions, after the new funding from Rho Ventures?
The immediate focus and priority is to establish Effective Measure within MENA and South East Asia where Effective Measure is rapidly becoming the standard. This means investing in educating the industry on the benefits of online. Effective Measure delivers credible insight to Agencies and Advertisers to help them reach their target markets effectively. As part of this education drive, it is important for us to provide the support required to ensure that the market is proficient in using our platform to achieve their campaign planning objectives.

The next priority is to develop products and services that add value to Advertisers, Agencies and Publishers businesses. We hope to announce some of these new initiatives shortly.

Further down the track we will certainly consider expanding into other regions; however we must first successfully establish our core business in the markets we operate in.

Q. How many websites from the MENA region have joined Effective Measure’s measurement system? And what is the overall traffic catered by these websites?
As of February total traffic in Effective Measure was around 21.7 million unique browsers (visitors) and just over a billion page views (impressions). This comes from around 80 websites. Effective Measure represents some of the largest sites in this region such as Kooora.com, MSN Arabia, Bayt.com and Jeeran.

What is even more significant, and what we are proud to announce is that Effective Measure has just signed the Ikoo network, the largest advertising network in the Middle East. We are in the process of adding their traffic to our platform. We expect to see our traffic grow from 1 billion page impressions in February to 2 billion in March/April with the inclusion of Ikoo’s network.

Q. How do you compare the Middle East to other regions in the world when it comes to acknowledging and accepting audience measurement?
Audience measurement in the Middle East is relatively new. It is not too different here from other emerging markets such as South East Asia, however there is a huge difference in perception towards audience measurement here compared to more established markets like UK and US.

According to the IAB in the UK, online ad spend in 2009 was a massive £1.7 billion. This grew by 4.6% from the previous year, despite a market downturn. Advertising spend online, now represents the largest medium in the UK and this is largely due to its measurability.

While the Middle East spends a fraction of this in online advertising, we expect similar growth trends to occur as a result of new credible third party measurement systems like Effective Measure being introduced. The key and focus for us now is to educate the market about the benefits of online and help Advertisers, Agencies and Publishers to grow their businesses through this medium.

Q. Did you face certain difficulties in the region while implementing the measurement, and sharing data with advertisers?
OF course, there was always going to be difficulties in essentially changing the way the market operates. Achieving complete transparency for the industry is one of our objectives and this has been one of the greatest challenges so far. However our hard work is starting to pay off and the industry is starting to realisie the benefits of being transparent. It all has a flow on effect. If the industry is transparent with their numbers, then the Advertisers and Agencies have more confidence in the numbers presented. If Advertisers have more accurate data to help with their marketing campaigns, they will get a better return on investment. There are different benefits for everyone, it’s just about taking a step back and looking at it from an industry point of view, not an individual business point of view.

There is still a long way to go, however we are confident that we will help the industry to see similar trends as the UK has seen in Digital.

Q. What is the procedure to accept and enrol a website in your system, and are there certain conditions like a minimum limit of traffic?
We have a 30 day free trial for all Publishers and websites who provide advertising on their site (this is the only condition for joining Effective Measure). Those interested can simply register their site on Effective Measure at http://register.effectivemeasure.com/.

Some sites have received interest from Agencies during this trial period so there’s a possibility of getting in a plan at a very early stage.

Q. What are your expectations for the region in terms of internet usage and online advertising spends?
The Middle East still has a low Internet penetration compared to markets like the US and UK. According to Internet World Stats, the Middle East has a penetration of around 28% (as of Sep 2009). This means that in 2009, there were around 57 million active users online (an increase from just 3 million users online in 2000!). Effective Measure will be representing about half of the online traffic in this region based and this is likely to be more than 50% once Ikoo has joined.

We expect that internet penetration will continue to increase in this region as we see mobile Internet enabled devices (such as smart phones) become more affordable and used by more people. Getting these into the hands of new users is more affordable for businesses than installing new infrastructure that delivers the Internet to new homes. As a result of this, we may even see people log onto the Internet for the first time through a mobile device.

In terms of advertising spend, we expect the market to move in a very similar trend to that seen in the UK where spend online will eventually overtake TV, Print and Radio. And this is due to its measurability and ability to reach target markets more effectively.

Effective Measure is absolutely focused on helping Advertisers, Agencies and Publishers to realise the value of online by providing deep insights into this space. With this education and the launch of our new products and services, we hope to facilitate the growth of online in this region which we believe has already begun.