Independent Accreditation Ensures Full Disclosure and that Four Key Adobe SiteCatalyst Metrics Comply with MRC Standards and Applicable IAB Guidelines; This Certified Data Can Inform the Online Ad Buying and Selling Process; SiteCatalyst Customers Can Have Their Audience Size and Engagement Metrics Certified by Adobe
Adobe Omniture Summit 2011
SALT LAKE CITY – Adobe Omniture Summit 2011 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that it has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for a new report within Adobe® SiteCatalyst®, powered by Omniture®. The following Adobe SiteCatalyst metrics are now accredited: Page Views, Visits, Daily Unique Cookies and Time Spent on Site. These metrics measure digital audience size and engagement.
The MRC was formed at the request of the U.S. Congress and audits and accredits audience measurement services on a voluntary basis, helping to ensure that the advertising industry has valid, reliable and effective advertising metrics. The MRC’s digital audience measurement accreditation encompasses the Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines established by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). As a result, these four SiteCatalyst metrics are also IAB compliant.
“Our customers rely heavily on Adobe to give them insight into their online businesses and have asked us to certify these SiteCatalyst metrics,” said Brad Rencher, vice president and general manager, Omniture Business Unit, Adobe. “Meeting standards backed by the MRC and the IAB means that publishers and advertisers can rely on these metrics to accurately measure and discuss digital audience size and engagement throughout the media planning, buying and selling process.”
To ensure a high level of data integrity, Adobe has put in place innovative methods of cleansing raw site traffic from events that could compromise the accuracy of the accredited metrics. Events filtered from raw site traffic include spider and robot activity. Adobe also provides facilities to remove traffic generated from customers’ internal employees.
Receiving MRC accreditation gives advertisers and publishers census-based measurement of key site metrics, meaning the metrics are generated by counting all relevant traffic to the site. These metrics can be relied upon as a more complete measurement of actual traffic and behavior since they are not based on statistically projected panel-based estimates. The statistically generated results from panel-based estimates often differ significantly from census-based results and have been a point of controversy in the advertising industry.
MRC’s Executive Director, George Ivie, said, “We congratulate Adobe for achieving accreditation of its SiteCatalyst metrics, which required implementation of several important new data filtration and accumulation practices. This commitment to quality and transparency is admirable and will serve Adobe customers well by informing them of traffic counts and other metrics more accurately.”
“Having reliable metrics that report digital audience size and engagement is critical to the growth of the interactive advertising industry,” said Sherrill Mane, senior vice president, Industry Services, IAB. “The IAB applauds Adobe for its commitment to transparency. Adobe’s completion of an audit by the Media Rating Council brings greater clarity and consistency to digital audience measurement.”
SiteCatalyst is Adobe’s flagship online analytics solution within the Adobe Online Marketing Suite.
Availability of Certification from Adobe
Adobe customers can have their digital audience size and engagement metrics (Page Views, Visits, Daily Unique Cookies and Time Spent on Site) certified by Adobe. The Adobe Audience Certification Program will be initiated via an opt-in process in the next few months. For more information, please contact an account manager.
“Scripps Networks has been a long time customer of Omniture and has depended on our Adobe SiteCatalyst numbers to give us insight into the size and engagement of our online audiences,” says Cheryl Brink, VP Interactive Research & Analytics, Scripps Networks. “Becoming an Adobe Certified Publisher will give our advertisers an added level of confidence that Scripps Networks can help them reach a highly engaged audience in a quality lifestyle environment. We’re pleased that Adobe is helping the industry evolve toward a more comprehensive approach to measurement.”
About the Adobe Online Marketing Suite
The Adobe® Online Marketing Suite, powered by Omniture®, offers an integrated and open platform for online business optimization, a strategy for using customer insight to drive innovation throughout the business and enhance marketing efficiency. The Suite consists of integrated applications to collect and unleash the power of customer insight to optimize customer acquisition, conversion and retention efforts as well as the creation and distribution of content. For example, using the Suite, marketers can identify the most effective marketing strategies and ad placements as well as create relevant, personalized and consistent customer experiences across digital marketing channels, such as onsite, display, e-mail, social, video and mobile. The Suite enables marketers to make quick adjustments, automate certain customer interactions and better maximize marketing ROI, which, ultimately, can positively impact the bottom line.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.
