AdRelevance Tracking Online Ads for Consumer Goods

Media Metrix subsidiary AdRelevance Inc., which tracks where,
when, how and how much Web marketers and their competition are advertising
online, launched a new service to meet the needs of the consumer goods
industry.

The new category tracks a range of products by manufacturer (rather than
retailer-distributor), including beauty supplies, drugs, toiletries, apparel,
books, food,
beverages, home and garden products, jewelry and accessories, automotive
supplies, recreational gear and toys.

“The consumer goods industry has always been one of the most powerful forces
in traditional media, but it’s been slow to get online,” said Will Hodgman,
president and chief executive officer of AdRelevance.

“Now that these companies have begun to
advertise on the Web, they’ll need real-time, comprehensive data that tells
them how their competitors
are marketing on the Internet.”

In addition to the new consumer goods category, AdRelevance provides
competitive online intelligence for eight other industries, including
automotive, financial services, PC hardware and consumer electronics, retail,
software, telecommunications, travel and Web
media.

“Retailers were the first companies to commit serious dollars to Web
advertising because ads could be linked to actionable sites like those of
Amazon.com, Dell Computer and MicroWarehouse where products could be
purchased online,” said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of media research
for AdRelevance.

“But consumer goods manufacturers emphasize branding and,
for the most part, let distributors handle sales. It’s taken a while for
these companies to recognize what a powerful medium the Web can be for
building their brands.”

AdRelevance’s data for September 1999 indicates that while more consumer
goods companies advertised online than companies in any other manufacturing
or service segment, the average number of impressions purchased by each
company was a fraction of what was purchased by companies in other
industries.

For example, while 220 consumer goods companies advertised online
compared with only 101 companies in the PC hardware and consumer electronics
industries, the average number of impressions purchased was only about
776,000 — less than 23 percent of the 3.4 million purchased by hardware and
electronics companies.