Goody - more ads!

["Forward, Jonathan" <JForward@sitgbsd1.telecom.com.au>]

Taken from today's Australian, my comments in brackets:

'   Rating Net to catch ad dollar

   The television ratings surveyor, A.C. Nielsen, will begin
  rating the Internet, bringing the increasingly popular new
  medium firmly into the mainstream commercial realm.
   Nielsen aims to produce its first Australian Internet
  "ratings survey" in the second quarter of this year, said
  Mr Ian Garland, who is in charge of the Australian Internet
  and interactive surveying service.
   In a world first, the survey would identify the "top 10"
  most popular Internet sites, giving potential advertisers
  an independent assessment of which sites were popular, and
  where they should place advertisements. [I could suggest a
  good place!]
   Companies, including advertisers and publishers, have been
  slow to move onto the Internet despite its growing popularity,
  as they have not been able to work out how to make money from
  it. [They're no doubt also still working out how to make money
  from Mother Theresa, Balkan war, fresh air, blue skies, etc.]
   The absence of an independent measurement of the popularity
  of Internet sites has made it hard to gauge whether advertise-
  ments were being wasted.
   Mr Garland said this week Nielsen planned initially to audit
  between 100 and 1000 Internet sites in Australia, in a parallel
  move with its United States-based parent, which would audit US-
  based sites. [You lucky bastards]'

TSB