IV. Conclusion & Recommendations: A Role for the Tow Center

The foregoing analysis of the world of Internet metrics points to several immediate conclusions: First, the measurement landscape online is far more confused and uncertain than in traditional media, with no established “currency” metric for comparing audiences. This is generally understood to be a problem by both publishers and advertisers, though within each group some negotiate the confusion better than others. Second, the lack of a single measurement standard is due mainly to two factors: a natural abundance of data about online audiences, and a diminished need for a currency metric to plan campaigns and close advertising deals. Put another way, the prevalence of a clear standard in television and radio has been a function of a relative dearth of information. Third, the prospects for standardization remain uncertain despite various ongoing efforts to reconcile competing metrics. However, the adoption of “hybrid” methodology and the prospect of a merger between comScore and Nielsen suggest how a dominant audience measurement standard might emerge. Fourth, such an audience‐measurement standard, if it emerges, will not play the decisive role of traditional media currencies such as Nielsen’s TV ratings. The abundance of information and the diversity of advertising models strongly suggest that measuring and comparing online media will remain a complex endeavor involving many data sources. Fifth, despite the clarion call for clear standards, what news outlets working online mostly wish for is more and better data: in particular, detailed information about their own local audience and about their direct competitors. What the best‐placed online publishers possess is not clarity, but control — control of the detailed demographic and behavioral information which advertisers can seek from an ever‐widening array of sources. This initial analysis suggests three broad avenues for the Tow Center: First, educating journalists and journalism students to understand and monitor the Internet measurement industry; second, cultivating data to track and assess business models in online news; and third, developing approaches to think about and measure journalistic success in the networked public sphere.