[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] Small and medium-sized businesses are expected to benefit from the
launch of a new Web monitoring and measurement tool, Hitwise.
The launch of the service follows a AUS $6.35 million (US $3.81 million)
round of capital raising by parent company Sinewave, owners of online marketing
agency Sinewave Interactive and popularity-based search engine Top100.
Sinewave said the capital raised would accelerate the growth of
Sinewave’s three core businesses and fund its international expansion into
Asia and Europe.
Executive director Andrew Barlow said the investment was significant
given the uncertainty surrounding the technological and online sector.
“Hitwise is succeeding because it is different from anything else
available on the market,” siad Barlow. “It provides real-time business
information about online performance that was previosuly only available to
the top companies.”
Hitwise works by providing an indication of the relative popularity of
Web sites based on a measure of page impressions from a range of ISP proxy
servers in Australia. Currently, Hitwise is analyzing traffic from over one
million Australian Internet users and more than 45,000 Australian and
international Web sites per day, the company said.
Small and medium-sized businesses are expected to be the main users of
the site, but it is also expected to attract media planners, advertising
agencies, venture capitalists, financial analysts, business consultants and
the media.
Companies currently using Hitwise include seek.com.au,
employment.com.au, aussie.com.au, insurance.com.au, theLounge.com.au, Zivo,
Dun and Bradstreet, the Commonwealth Bank, EMI Music, gradlink, the
Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business’ site
jobsearch.gov.au, the Penrith Panthers and Nickleodeon.
