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FAQ – frequently asked questions |
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Monday, 08 March 2010 |
1. What is the price of research for media operators?
• The price of research is set according to the pricelist publicly available at www.netmonitor.cz. The price for media operators is set according to the sum of all the page views for all measured media for the given month. Media operators receive data about visitor numbers and socio-demographics of the actual medium (media) for this price.
2. What is the complete NetMonitor data and who buys it?
• The complete data is the result of measuring visitor numbers and socio-demographics for all media included in the research. As a rule, media agencies buy it for planning campaigns; media operators can buy complete data for a special price for media operators (see pricelist). If a media operator signs up for research even for a medium it does not operate (it does not own the domain), it is obliged to buy the complete data for the full price. A media representative does not include any of its own media in the research, pays the price as an operator according to the monthly number of page views, and is also obliged to buy the complete data for the full price.
3. What does the term Real User mean and how does it differ from a Unique User?
• The term Real User means an actual, real person, who visited the given server in the researched period. This indicator is obtained using a unique algorithm, which uses a whole range of information, including knowledge of the internet population size, which is discovered via external offline research. A unique user is the equivalent of a cookie, by which the browser is identified. One person (Real User) can use several computers/browsers, can delete their cookies and can therefore be identified as several “Unique Users”.
4. What are the advantages of measuring a server in NetMonitoring compared with other systems such as Google Analytics?
• Compared with other systems, NetMonitor provides the media connected to and measured in it information about visitor numbers on the level of Real Users (actual people) and also information about the socio-demographic profiles of these servers’ and their sections’ users. Data is used by media agencies to plan advertising campaigns on the internet and serves the market as a kind of single currency regarding measurement of visitor numbers. Visitor number data is also presented to the general public in the form of public output and charts. The best-known and most visited Czech media and portals are included in the measuring. The implementer is an independent subject who ensures objectivity and impartial measuring.
5. How is the RU (Real User) indicator counted?
• The calculation algorithm takes the measured activity of all users of the measured internet and individual servers into consideration, where in the first step it deals with the situation when one person can be represented by several cookies (using several computers, deleting cookies, etc.), or in contrast one cookie (Unique User) representing several people (e.g. one computer in a household used by several/all members of the household). The result is the number of cookies that would be measured if none of the cookies in the measured month were deleted, both for the whole internet as well as each server/section separately. In the next step, the reach is set for each server/section in the set of these estimated cookies and this applied to the size of the internet population whose size is known for the given month from external offline research. RUs are available for up to 25 days after the end of the given measured month for methodological reasons. The RU calculation algorithm is described in detail in Project Methodology, which is available at the address www.netmonitor.cz. in the section “Documents about the Project”.
6. What does the term Univerzum mean and how is it set?
• Univerzum is understood primarily to be the size of the internet population, which is set for the given month based on offline external research. Internet population describes a group of people who connect to the internet at least once in the given period (typically a month). The project has used Continual Research from the ATO CZ TV metering project for this purpose since September 2009. Users may also come across the term “Socio-demographic Universe”, which indicates the distribution of the internet population in various socio-demographic categories, such as, for example, sex, age, education, etc. The source of this information is also the ATO Continual TVM.
7. What does the term weighting mean and what is it used for?
• Weighting is understood to be a process where panel characteristics are straightened out so the result corresponds with the reality of the internet population. It could be that the panel includes, for example, 45% male and 55% female respondents, while the actual situation in the internet population is the exact opposite. The weighting process then aims to assign respondents a weight that ensures the 45% male respondents represent 55% of the internet population, i.e. men. The method is also similar for other socio-demographic groups – socio-demographic weighting. Behavioural weighting then aims to assign weight to respondents so that their sum equals the number of Real Users that was calculated by the relevant algorithm.
8. What are URL masks?
• A URL mask is a term used in relation to the definitions of sections for individual measured servers. URL masks determine which URL (sites) fall under which sections, or are not categorized. Uncategorized URLs are nevertheless still part of the overall statistics for the medium, which is not reduced by them. A separate document available from the Implementer focuses on the creation of URL masks in detail.
9. What is an offline report?
• An offline report is an XLS workbook containing the values of basic indicators for visitor numbers for all measured servers and their public sections. Visitor number values are split into Overall Visitor Numbers (CR & abroad) and visitor numbers for Real Users only from the CR. The offline report also contains the aggregate visitor numbers in the form of Operators, Packs and last but not least Media Categorization.
10. What is OLA?
• The term OLA means “Online Application”, which is publicly available at the address http://online.netmonitor.cz. This application contains basic statistics for visit numbers of servers and public sections and aggregate visitor numbers in the form of data for Operators, Packs and Media Categorization. The application also allows viewing of historical data, their export and with user login (only actively measured media), also viewing of statistics for private sections. This is the only application to offer RUest indicator values.
11. How are respondents included in a panel?
• Respondents are recruited to a panel using questionnaires, which are emitted automatically in the form of pop-up windows on measured servers. After completing the questionnaire, the respondent, who goes through validation processes, becomes a member of the “pop-up panel”. Respondents are also asked to collaborate in the form of installing the netSoftware measuring application and if they agree, they become a member of the “software panel”.
12. How is a panel constructed?
• From both panels (software and pop-up), a group is selected every month with the maximum possible size that allows the values of norms to be filled in for criteria the panel should meet in order to be representative. The selection is done from members of the panel who also meet other requirements, such as, for example, the time they have been members of the panel to ensure higher month-to-month stability.
13. What is SEKV and what is it for?
• SEKV is an abbreviation of the Czech term for Structural Exclusive Continual Research. This research aims to describe the structure of the internet population and set criteria influencing internet behaviour. Respondents must be asked these criteria, and then monitored in the panel so that its representativeness is ensured from this perspective. SEKV is not one-time research; it is implemented in waves and thus also has the ambition of monitoring trends and changes in internet population over a longer time period.
14. What is the procedure when including media in a research?
• The media operator will contact the SPIR executive department to conclude the Agreement on Participation in NetMonitor Research. Upon signing the agreement, the technical implementer will generate measuring scripts. The actual measuring starts from the first day of the month and measuring codes should be deployed on the website by methodologists no later than 5 days before measuring starts.
15. What is media categorization for?
• Categorization of content for media measured in NetMonitor is for making data output clearer. Each medium is split into content categories according to clear rules, according to which it is possible to filter the charts of media visitor numbers.
16. Who decides about classifying media in a category and how do they decide?
• The project implementer makes decisions about categorizing media into content categories when including media, and proceeds according to categorization rules previously set by the SPIR committee. In disputed cases, the SPIR committee for the categorization decides.
17. Who or what is the Operator?
• The operator is, from the project’s perspective, an entity who pays for measuring of the relevant media in NetMonitor and is the owner a 2nd level domain on which the medium runs, or may have an agreement on media representation with this owner. The Operator of the media may only ever be a single entity, and no medium can figure in NetMonitor without an Operator. The aggregate visitor number values for the Operator are also given in NetMonitor output.
18. What is Pack?
• Pack is a group of servers or just sections, formed according to the Operator’s wishes. It is the aggregate of visitor number values for individual servers/sections ranked here and is presented as a unit in the results. Information about Packs composition is available to users nevertheless.
19. Why is the reach of NetMonitor 97.7%? How is it set?
• NetMonitor does not measure the whole internet, just part of it in the form of several hundred servers. There is a certain group of internet users who do not visit any of the servers measured even once a measured month. This group is made up of about 2.3% of internet users in the CR. The reach of NetMonitor is therefore 97.7% and was set based on analysis and research of internet users’ behaviour.
20. What does the RUest indicator mean? How is it set and why is it used?
• For methodological reasons, the RU indicator value is available for up to 25 days after the end of the measured month. The RUest indicator was introduced and the methodology for its calculation developed so that it would fill this gap and is at least a temporary and approximate indicator of visitor numbers. RUest is obtained based on historical ratios between the cookies measured and the RUs calculated in previous periods. The difference between the RUest value and then the calculated RUs is usually in the range of one percent.
21. What is a domain filter and what is its function?
• A domain filter is a measure whose task is to remove from public output or not allow entry to images which were made out of a 2nd level domain than the one reported in output. The domain filter therefore fulfils a kind of automatic checking role, which prevents an increase in media visitor numbers (whether intentional or unintentional), by also locating measuring scripts on webpages other than the media to which they belong.
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