WebProNews

The challenge of measuring the reach of a website for advertising purposes has become increasingly complicated, thanks to the myriad ways of distributing content. Quantcast CEO Konrad Feldman told WebProNews that the old ways of determining reach, namely the panel-based approach, needed an update. It's a need he would like to help fill with the online measurement company he launched in September 2006.

The latest efforts from Quantcast aim at addressing the issue of content distribution through a couple of the more popular ways to do so: video and widgets. Once those items begin appearing on blogs and websites, on different networks, their publisher does not have access to deeper metrics about their reach.

Feldman said Quantcast's approach, blending some 2 million panel participants with pixel data they can collect, created an "overarching holistic model" to provide deeper insights into distributed content. He said the company can offer participants in its Quantified Publisher program a look at how many people view that content, and how frequently.

Further, Feldman claimed they can assemble information on the demographics and lifestyles of distributed content users, through its 'Mass Inference' algorithm. Video producers can ask for data about viewing habits, such as how much of a video was viewed by the audience.

Quantcast's services are currently available for free. Feldman said publishers need to understand their network reach as well as their site reach, and believes his firm's approach can deliver that information.