Setting standards: the lack of an industry measurement standard is often cited as the reason for the disparity between online's media share and its ad revenue. But will the quest for a 'gold standard' resolve this issue?

New Media Age, October, 2003 by Chris Dillabough

Spending on Internet advertising is growing fast--reaching just less than 200m [pounds sterling] in the UK in 2002, according to figures produced by the new media industry trade body, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

But that's still far less than it ought to be, if you accept that the amount spent on each medium should roughly match the amount of time that people spend consuming it. While Internet 'media time' is now just under 10%, according to some estimates, spending on online advertising represents just 1.4% of spend across all media.

The most popular explanation for this gap is the fact that an online campaign is too complex to plan, to execute, and to measure the impact of, given its relative importance. Media agencies have long complained...