AGOF - Arbeitsgemeinschaft Online Forschung

Advertising format:
Advertising formats are tools for depicting an advertising message. For the internet facts performance values are applied to ten different advertising formats that comply with the standards of the Universal Ad Package (UAP). Specifications to these advertising formats may also be viewed at www.werbeformen.de

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Affinity:
A criterion for assessing the quality of contacts regarding an advertising medium. This figure is calculated as follows: The ratio of a target group's structural proportion from among the advertising medium's user group is divided by the proportion of this target group among a shown universe.

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Anchor variable:
Anchor variables are used to establish a link between two different data sets within the context of a data fusion. Anchor variables of identical quality are contained in both data sets (e.g. sociodemographic features, consumption behavior etc.) The remaining variables (non-anchor variables) from both source data sets will also appear in the subsequent fused data set.

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Average exposure:
Average number of exposures to an advertising medium as received by an individual user. Average exposure is defined in terms of the relation between -> gross audience and -> net coverage.

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Booking unit:
A booking unit is a unit to be allocated with advertisements by one or more advertisers. A booking unit may consist of a complete online presence, a partial online presence, a combination of several online presences or a combination of several partial online presences. Each booking unit that has been defined and shown by the marketer is separately usable and bookable.

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CATI survey:
In the course of a "Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews" the respondent's data are instantly collected by the means of a software program. The program navigates the selection of the target person and the development of the interview. It provides questions, verifies all answers with respect to their validity for the relevant question and instantly subdivides answers into different categories.

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Case number:
The number of elements contained in the analyzed data set of the sample. On the basis of this figure, percentages and extrapolations are calculated in the evaluation phase. The function of case numbers is to identify the margin of deviation which has to be considered during the evaluation of the results (therefore a weighted and unweighted case number should be shown).

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Category system:
The AGOF's category system divides the individual parts of an online presence into thematic units. For the first and second level of the category system the AGOF draws on the category system provided by the IVW.
Six categories are allocated to the first, and 36 categories are allocated to the second level. In the third level, which was newly established by the AGOF and which is called profiling level, the individual websites are divided into 354 different profiling classes that are assigned to specific (sub)categories. The fourth level, which is the smallest unit of the system, includes the so-called codes that are used by each marketer for defining the individual booking unit of each online presence.

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Combination:
If a -> booking unit contains several different -> online presences, it is called combination.

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Cost per thousand exposures:
Unit for assessing cost effectiveness in the context of displaying advertisements on an advertising medium. The cost per thousand exposures indicates the cost of 1,000 -> exposures to an advertising medium within the target group.

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Cost per thousand users:
Just like the cost per thousand exposures this is a unit for assessing cost effectiveness, especially with respect to intermedial comparisons. Costs to be shown are the costs incurred for reaching 1,000 -> unique users within the chosen target group.

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Coverage:
The expected number of -> unique users for a given -> share.

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CpG (Cost per GRP):
The cost per -> Gross Rating Point (GRP) puts the GRP in relation to the costs of the media plan.

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Data-Mining:
The term denotes the systematic (usually automated or semiautomated) identification and extraction of formerly unknown, statistically correct and vital information units from large data volumes. The data sets are checked for regularities, patterns and structures, deviations and all kinds of relations and mutual influences such as significant frequencies.

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Data set I:
Data set I (DS 1) relates to the information available after the merging of the data from the technical measurement and the onsite survey, which is carried out by the means of data mining and profiling.

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Data set II:
Data set II (DS 2) is the equivalent of the ultimate data set for the AGOF survey. To obtain DS 2, data set I is merged and weighted with the data from the CATI survey (-> fusion).

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Definable target groups:
On the basis of the descriptive characteristics that are contained in the data set (such as demographic features, group features, consumption and utilization patterns, purchasing patterns), different target groups can be established for all persons included.

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Dynamic microcluster:
When analyzing information on the Internet user gained by the technical measurement, one has to take into account that new information is constantly collected, which has an impact on the process of both data mining and profiling. The results of the data mining/data profiling are not fixed clusters, but dynamic clusters in the microstructure that undergo constant changes.

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Effective coverage:
A fraction of the total -> coverage of an advertising medium that directly reaches the target group, without any scattering losses. Scattering losses occur, e.g., when persons that do not belong to the target group are reached by the advertisement. The term is used to further qualify the traditional concept of "coverage” by taking into account response functions. Only the persons with a minimal number of potential exposures are considered to be reached effectively.

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Exposure groups:
Exposure groups are used to illustrate the distribution of exposures to users. For this purpose the number of exposures during the designation period is divided into several different categories.

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Exposure (to an advertisement):
An exposure denotes even the slightest contact that a person or household may have with a particular advertising medium. For the internet facts a page impression counts as an exposure. In the technical measurement, a page impression is defined as a user-induced call of an HTML site that is equipped with a counting pixel.

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FraBo tag:
The so-called FraBo tag is an HTML fragment which is embedded in all AGOF websites, with the exception of the homepage. This fragment contains a JavaScript call to a server. The latter checks if the unique client who opened the website is part of the sample and should therefore receive a questionnaire.

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Fusion:
A fusion is a statistical procedure by which two data sets are merged via anchor variables.

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Gross audience:
Total number of exposures reached by an advertising medium with respect to the target persons. The gross audience contains multiple exposures, too (-> gross coverage).

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Gross coverage:
Grand total of the coverage numbers of several advertising media. The gross coverage may also include persons that have been collected several times due to an overlap. These will be eliminated from the figures when identifying the net audience. Thus, gross coverage does not provide information on how many persons have been exposed to the ad how many times.

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GRP (Gross Rating Point):
Unit for gross coverage, consisting of the added number of exposures without consideration of overlaps. The GRP is stated in percentage, i.e. the proportion of a target group (which is the equivalent of percental gross coverage). GRP = coverage (in %) x exposures per user (average exposures).

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Ident:
Ident is the unequivocal identification for clients within the AGOF system. The Ident is used for assigning the consumption activities that are individually collected by the SZM procedure unambiguously to one client. The irreversible transition from technical data to Idents consciously eliminates references between consumption activities and actual persons.

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Index:
Index values (indices) are used for subsuming particular values into a series. The average variation of a series can be compared with reference to a mutual base level (100) in terms of time, space or object. The index issued for the internet facts generally consists of the relation between an observed value and the base level 100.

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internet facts:
The internet facts are published by the AGOF on a quarterly basis. The survey contains coverage data and structural data on the most important advertising online presences in the German market.

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Key figures:
Key figures are used for mapping a media plan on the basis of the internet facts. The key figures illustrate the performance potential of the displayed advertising media in relation to each other.

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Log file:
Online data systems that provide the user with website content and advertisements usually log an extensive set of transaction data which enables them to draw conclusions about the user's consumption behavior. Especially web servers that send multi media documents via the World Wide Web record viewed documents and user data in so-called log files.

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Multi-client:
A multi-client uses several computers in parallel. Thus a multi-client is a person that accesses the Internet with several computers, e.g. at home, at work or on the go.

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Multi-user:
This term denotes a multiple utilization of one particular computer (unique client). Especially in private households it is often the case that several persons use the same computer, with each person visiting different websites.

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Net audience:
The total number of persons (unduplicated) exposed to a booking unit or online presence during the designation period.

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Net coverage:
Number of persons that have been exposed to the advertising medium at least once during the designation period. While the figures for the -> gross audience (number of exposures achieved by several different advertising media) include persons that were collected twice due to overlaps, all duplicates are eliminated from the net coverage figures. If you divide the -> gross coverage or the -> gross audience by the net coverage or net audience, you will obtain the OTS value (opportunities to see). The net coverage is stated as an absolute value (m./thousand) and as a percentage proportion based on the given -> universe.

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Online presence:
An online presence is defined as an entity of HTML pages that can be reached via a joint address (URL). Performance numbers will be published both for booking units and with reference to a particular online presence.

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Onsite survey:
This term refers to market research interviews that are conducted via an advertising medium by the means of a questionnaire to be filled out online. With regard to the internet facts, all users that were picked from the pool of unique clients per random sample receive an advertisement containing an invitation for an onsite survey.

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Page impression:
For the internet facts a page impression is the unit for an exposure to the advertising medium or a page view. In the context of the -> SZM procedure, a page impression is defined as a user-induced call of an HTML site that is equipped with a counting pixel.

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Pilot survey:
The AGOF's pilot survey is conducted in the run-up to the AGOF's regular survey and is primarily concerned with the validation of data, with a strong focus on technical details and processing steps. Early results from the AGOF's pilot survey were already presented in the fall of 2004 at the trade show Online Marketing Düsseldorf (OMD).

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Plan (media plan):
A plan is used to identify the ideal combination of advertising media while considering the requirements for reaching both the target group and the budget planning. A media plan provides information on the performance-based parameters to be expected and the costs to be incurred for an advertisement campaign.

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Potential:
Size of a target group, grossed up on the basis of the -> case number (stated as m./thousand, with 2 decimal places).

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Profiling:
The term subsumes procedures that are capable of generating user profiles. Profiling programs are based on a comparison of patterns and structures of existing profiles and their single values. The comparison is conducted by a specialized, automated algorithm. On the basis of patterns and correspondences, missing profile values are substituted by forecasts, thus complementing the profiles. The procedures are adaptive and able to independently react to changing data bases, and thus the forecasts are always up-to-date. Profiling procedures are used in various fields of application and are often used to supplement traditional statistical analytical processes.

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P-value:
The P-value indicates the probability with which a unique user can be reached during the reference period and with regard to a given -> share. The P-value is not filed in the data set but is calculated depending on the -> share. The probabilities of utilization as stated by the P-value are between 0 and 1.

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Ranking:
Ranking of advertising media (-> booking units) according to relevant selection criteria and depending on size.

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Regular survey:
This term refers to the AGOF's survey internet facts, which is published four times a year.

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Share:
Share of allocated -> page impressions in the total number of page impressions concerning a designated unit (-> booking unit).

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SZM - Scalable Central Measuring Procedure [Skalierbares Zentrales Messverfahren]:
The SZM is conducted by INFOnline. Online presences to take part in the measurement are required to be measured by the SZM in compliance with the IVW's regulations. The SZM measures the page views of the participating online presences. Online presences that are gaged by the SZM are required to install a so-called tag on each website. With each page view the tag generates exactly one call on one of the SZM boxes of the measuring system that are assigned to the online presence.

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Target group:
The group of persons which is addressed by advertising activities in order to achieve the advertising objective of the campaign.

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Total number of exposed people:
Number of persons that have been exposed to the advertising medium at least once during the period of designation (three months).

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Universe:
The universe of the internet facts consists of the German resident population 14 years and up. The term denotes the total amount of empirical items that can potentially be taken into account for the conduct of the survey.

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Unique client:
Unique client denotes a single computer that is measured in terms of internet consumption (calls on online presences of advertisers) in the context of the technical measurement. The information collected consists of learned data such as page impressions. As soon as the computer accesses a website that is measured by the AGOF, INFOnline's SZM system starts measuring. The unique client provides the basis for deducing the unique user. Clients that appear in the list on at least two different calendar days at intervals of at least twelve hours and 35 days at most, are turned into unique clients.

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Unique user:
The unique user, i.e. the "single user”, is the basis for the internet facts. The unique user states the number of persons that have been exposed to a particular advertising medium or booking unit during a given period of time. The unique user serves as the basis for calculating coverage data and structural data of online advertisements and for the calculation of key factors of media planning such as weekly consumption, monthly consumption and contact establishment. Within the data set for the internet facts, each line represents one unique user.

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User profile:
The user profile consists of information on the viewed content and the frequency and structure of utilization in the period under review. User profiles are established for each unique client and are subsumed for the calculation of the unique user.

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