Audience Measurement Service Launches Startup

NetRatings Inc. in Milpitas, CA, launched a service that links Web site visits and banner advertising click rates with detailed user demographic data.

The product, called Online Observer, provides weekly, monthly and quarterly reports. It is aimed at helping advertisers and ad buyers analyze and plan where to place online marketing.

Data is collected by tracking the Web usage of a panel of 2,000 people who have provided detailed demographic, lifestyle and behavioral information, according to Reuters.

Panel members are recruited through the Web. Tim Meadows, NetRatings vice president for marketing, was quoted as saying plans are to expand the panel to 25,000 users.

Panel members answer a battery of questions which include standard demographics such as age, gender, income and education, as well as questions about ethnicity, political affiliation, leisure activities, ownership of electronics and luxury items, and hotel and airline preferences.

Privately held NetRatings, founded last July, competes with such companies as Media Metrix, Relevant Knowledge and @Plan in the field of Web audience measurement.