Craig Macfarlane, chief technology officer of StudentAdvantage.com, smiles incredulously as he studies the numbers: 4.7 million unique users logged onto his company's FansOnly.com Web site in December. No, wait--make that 1.75 million. Or rather, 1.13 million.
The first of the three numbers from which Marfarlane has to choose was generated using a homegrown Web traffic-analysis program; the second was offered by PC Data Online; and the third was provided by Media Metrix. At least two of them are inaccurate. But most likely, all three are off the mark. "It's scientific, but it's messy," says Macfarlane.
It's also a hassle. "If we are undercounted and don't appear in the top-tier sites, we don't get to meet with agencies or significant advertisers," he says. "This certainly does affect our ability to sell advertising." So the Web site has to scrutinize the three numbers to figure out which ones are closest to reality.
Despite considerable improvements to the methodologies employed by Web traffic-analysis tools over the past two years, it seems that deriving meaningful results with them is still often two parts art and one part science. Regardless, the results they produce are indispensable.
Editor's Note:
At press time, PC Data Online had ceased doing business. Certain assets of the company had been acquired by comScore Networks, which is honoring the contracts of former PC Data Online customers.
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This story originally appeared in CNET Enterprise on 4/9/01.
