It looked like a 20th-generation photocopy that had been originally taken from an advertising textbook many years earlier. The curve allowed a planner to make some assumptions about reach and frequency based on the number of rating points purchased and the number of radio networks used to reach the audience. At the time, it struck me as a very strange and inadequate way to measure advertising. While I'm eager to see online advertising take on a role in every traditional advertiser's media mix, I'm not sure that the tradeoff of ignoring this medium's unique characteristics is worth it. I think every online ad campaign needs to address the fundamental reasons why an advertiser is advertising in the first place in order to be deemed successful or unsuccessful.
Advertisers advertise because they want a transaction to take place.
That transaction can take many forms, depending on the advertiser's strategy. It could be the direct purchase of a product or service. It could be the prospect's commitment to a charity or a cause. These transactions are what advertisers want. We owe it to the medium to use technology to directly measure the volume and effect of these transactions as they relate to the ad campaigns we place.