'Hits' Are Not a Valid Measure of Web Site Effectiveness, According To Speakers at CMP's Networked Economy Conference

Speaking at CMP's Networked Economy Conference today, several media experts agreed that "hits" or "click-throughs" are not the most effective ways of judging a Web site's impact or that of its advertising.

"HITS stands for How Idiots Track Success," said Katharine Paine, CEO of The Delahaye Group, Inc., an international image consulting firm. Paine opened the panel discussion on "The Business of News, Marketing and Advertising" at the conference.

The problem, according to Paine, is that Madison Avenue jumped into the online arena thinking it was just another medium, like television, that they could control. "It's not a medium," she emphasized, "it's a marketplace."

The answer is to look at the information available about users in order to plan media spending. "For the past year we've been talking to dozens of companies a week, offering them full psychographic profiles of their Web site visitors based on a simple registration theme," said Paine. "But most Webmasters would still rather count hits."

Also speaking on the panel were Ariel Poler, Founder and Chairman, I/PRO, Kevin O'Connor, President and CEO, DoubleClick, Hunter Madsen, Vice President/Marketing and Commercial Strategy, Hot Wired, Peter Sealey, Ph.D., Sealey Consulting, and Joshua Greer, Chairman and CEO, Digital Planet.

"If everything is measured by click-throughs then we have a problem," said Madsen, who also believes that online advertising is undervalued and should be modeled after direct marketing instead of mass media.

Greer noted that he sees a "slow echo" in the industry. "We were speaking about the problems with hits and click-throughs last year and now we're finally seeing that echoed back to us."

Greer also predicted that the online industry is going to see a media backlash in 1997. "The media has been very good for this industry," said Greer. "But as they realize that some get rich quick companies didn't pan out and as major companies rethink their Internet strategies, you'll start to see more negative stories about the industry."

CMP's Networked Economy Conference is presented by CommunicationsWeek (http://www.commweek.com/), The Networking Newspaper. CommunicationsWeek delivers news and analysis that helps network IT management translate evolving advances in communications and computing technology directly into business advantage. In addition, the newspaper features Web Commerce, a biweekly section that provides in-depth features and analysis of electronic commerce products, technologies and case studies. Telepath, a monthly supplement to CommunicationsWeek, is directed to the innovators behind converging networks.

CMP Media Inc. provides publishing, marketing and information services to the entire high-technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology -- through print and electronic media. All of CMP's publications and online products can be accessed through the company's TechWeb® site on the World Wide Web (http://www.techweb.com/). Print titles include EE Times, Computer Reseller News, InformationWeek and WINDOWS Magazine.

All of CMP's press releases are available on the Web at http://www.techweb.cmp.com/corporate. Journalists and reporters may also set up interviews with CMP's high technology experts through the site by e-mail.

-0- 3/19/97

SOURCE: CMP Media Inc.

CONTACT: Catherine Jarrat Koatz of CMP, 516-562-7827, ckoatz(at)cmp.com