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(Mis)Tracking Web Traffic

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the of-course-everyone-has-a-traffic-toolbar dept.

PreacherTom writes "Online advertising is considered by many to be the most dependably trackable ad medium of all time, with revenues expected to grow to $16 billion in this year alone. However, companies are finding that competing methods of measuring web traffic are giving contradictory results. Since advertising revenues are based directly on the traffic developed, this news could mean serious trouble. For example, valuations for startups such as Facebook and YouTube appear to be doubling every few months, but those numbers are based on traffic figures that could be misleading."

2 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by Tarlus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How is this "serious trouble"? Not to be a troll or anything, but why does it matter that much if web advertisers have inaccurate figures on their incoming traffic? Especially in a world that readily embraces advertisement and popup blockers?

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  2. this takes me back by xoundmind · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Remember the horrible old days when Webalizer stats were being misinterpreted wholesale? I inherited the primary coding responsibilities for a large consumer health site. It was about 10,000 static html pages and the site relied on Webalizer "hits" for years. Even reported them as such to the large pharmaceutical companies that sponsored the site. After we converted the site to being MySQL driven and actual page views were accurately recorded, the sponsors, editors and project managers FLIPPED. Like it it was the programmers fault that they had been so stupid all of those years....and perhaps acting fraudulently towards the advertisers. Mercifully, I worked on other angles than stats, but the other programmer caught hell for a year.
    I'm sure others in the audience have similar horror stories.