NetRatings Previews Its Online Observer Service

NetRatings, a Milpitas-CA-based online market research and analysis firm, is demonstrating its Online Observer at Internet Showcase in San Diego.

The product provides hard Web audience information that allows advertisers and marketers to more effectively target and reach potential customers, the company said.

Said Barbara Jarzab, NetRatings’ vice president of research: “Online Observer marries traditional research methodologies with new technology. The result is something new–a comprehensive view of what people do on the web.”

NetRatings said it is building a statistically relevant panel of a cross section of the entire Web user universe, integrated with extensive demographic and lifestyle profiles into a comprehensive database. Information on a particular site, such as page views, also now can include detailed audience demographics, such as age, gender, income and lifestyle habits.

Subscribers access this information at two levels: comprehensive overview reports, including top Web sites, top referring sites and top banner ads in a given time period; and focused queries based on specific demographic variables or sites.

Specific inquiries let marketers answer questions like: “What were the most popular banners with single professional women between 35 and 44 with incomes of $75,000 or more?” and “What are the top 25 sites most visited by young males between the ages of 12 and 17?”

The service will be available later in the first quarter. Pricing was not disclosed.