Data has recently been released for measuring the Italian digital audience carried out by Audiweb according to the new methodology. Since the monthly data have been released, these are comparable with the surveys already carried out by Comscore and published in the specialized press.
Meanwhile, it is noted that for Audiweb the unique users / months have risen over 44 million while for Comscore they have slightly exceeded 40. The substantial difference is over 10% even if the reference universes differ (on desktop accesses Audiweb measures from 2 years onwards while Comscore from 6 years onwards; on Audiweb mobile from 18 to 74 years of age while Comscore from 18 years onwards).
However, the greatest inconsistencies are evident when we analyze the socio-demographic cross-section in detail. Here, the Audiweb measurement seems to have brought some doubts in the results of the new methodology, which had already characterized the previous approach. In some socio-demographic segments the inconsistencies seem obvious, because in the bands taken into consideration, Audiweb registers more online users than Italians surveyed by Istat on the basis of the latest surveys. In the 35-44-year-old segment, the most economically relevant as a target adv and for e-commerce purposes, there is a 6% difference: that is half a million active Italians online counted by Audiweb more than those existing according to Istat. Even in the 18-24 age group and in the 25-34 year old the Italians surveyed by Audiweb are more online than those actually alive according to Istat.
On the other hand, the surveys relating to the time spent online are more in line after Audiweb – following a methodological change introduced last May and retained in the new methodology – reduced its previous estimates by about a third.
The figures relating to the audience of some publishing domains (tagged by both meters and not aggregated with other sites) are also included in the picture, which in the Audiweb measurement obtain significantly lower results than those of Comscore, with differences that in one case exceed 40%, in another they reach 23%.
In short, from all this it is clear that the adoption of an increasingly transparent mechanism is necessary (as the AgCom rightly pointed out in its latest pronouncement) capable of providing reliable measurements because it is an essential need for the development and growth of digital industry in Italy. The entire publishing chain, publishers, agencies, agencies and media centers absolutely need it.