Neilsen//NetRatings has recently shaken the Web 2.0 world up a bit with the addition of a “Total Minutes” metric to its syndicated Internet audience measurement service. Neilsen contends that the “Total Minutes” measurement delivers greater perspective on total engagement across sites.
Scott Ross, director of product marketing for NetView stated:
“Total Minutes is the best engagement metric in this initial stage of Web 2.0 development, not only because it ensures fair measurement of Web sites using RIA and streaming media, but also of Web environments that have never been well-served by the page view, such as online gaming and Internet applications”
Nielsen explains that while Rich Internet Application (RIA) technologies have enhanced consumer experience, the explosion of such applications poses unique challenges to Internet audience measurement. Visitors to sites that employee RIA technology can access content without fully reloading Web pages, thus making page views a less relevant measurement of the users’ engagement.
This change in focus to “Total Minutes” has shifted the spotlight for a few sites. AOL now ranks first based on the amount of time users spend on a given page whereas it only comes in sixth based on the page view metric. Yahoo moves up in rank as well, while Google falls from third to fifth when gauged by time spent as opposed to page views.
