Ratings define the “consideration set”

Because of this inverted planning dynamic for online advertising, the role of syndicated research services like comScore and Nielsen is greatly diminished. Rather than defining a currency, these panel measurement companies act as a sieve, helping planners to come up with a list of sites and ad networks to potentially include in a campaign — the “consideration set.” As a result, a site like the Wall Street Journal pays close attention to its ranking and especially to its demographic profile in the syndicated research services. “We live and die by the demographics,” says Downey. Once a potential advertiser has the Journal on its list, however, salespeople can make their case using other research sources, including the newspaper’s own records. This often means “educating” potential advertisers about the under‐representation of the Journal’s valuable atwork audience on the major research panels. While a good comScore or Nielsen profile may make a site attractive to a brand advertiser, the audience data are not used to set the terms of an ad buy. How a deal is structured will depend more than anything (and more than in offline media) on the specific objectives of the advertiser. But even in a straightforward CPM deal, media performance matters. If a site does not deliver desired impressions (or clicks, or conversions) quickly enough, it runs the risk of being cut from the media schedule. In fact, cutting venues out has become routine campaign strategy. “You want to cast a fairly wide net initially, then refine it as the campaign runs,” explains Rudy Grahn, director of analytics at media agency Zenith Optimedia. Advertisers have other tactics at their disposal, including renegotiating the price or the volume of impressions, but a site that consistently under‐delivers will find itself eliminated from a campaign.