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Marketing Vox: SQAD Throws Weight Behind CPM Standard

Media marketplace data source SQAD has announced plans to use the cost-per-thousand (CPM) method as the primary currency for tracking online advertising.

The move comes as Madison Avenue attempts to standardize buying metrics for television - and will likely contribute to the alignment of online ad ROI with traditional media, including television, reports MediaPost.

"Since there is currently no industry-standard equivalent to cost-per-point in the Web display space, we elected to focus on CPM in the initial WebCosts release," stated CEO Neil Klar of SQAD. Klar said the decision was made after discussions with the Media Policy Committee of the American Association of Advertising (AAAA).

Klar also said the decision does not exclude the adoption of cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and cost-per-click (CPC) metrics; CPMs will simply be used as a starting point for SQAD's online ad estimates.

Favoring CPM was rationalized as a means to facilitate "apples-to-apples comparisons for multi-platform buys as well as single media deals" - that is, in the future, SQAD will be better equipped to supply standardized data to clients that make integrated media buys across TV, the 'net and eventually mobile.

Other major industry labels, including Nielsen and systems providers like Microsoft, Google, Spot Runner and Canoe Ventures (a coalition of cable companies), are preparing similar "trading tables" that make it easier to buy video ad impressions alongside traditional ones.

Find the full article at http://www.marketingvox.com.