(IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers partnership

InteractiveAdvertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers announce partnership to measure New Zealand interactive advertising market. Auckland, Monday 11 June, 2007

The Interactive Advertising Bureau of New Zealand (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers announced today they have signed an agreement to provide accurate measurement of interactive advertising spending in the New Zealand market. PricewaterhouseCoopers works with a number of other IAB branches around the world to deliver market sizing and research analysis and reporting. IAB New Zealand CEO, Mark Evans, said PricewaterhouseCoopers was a natural partner for the IAB in the New Zealand market.

“We know the interactive advertising market here is growing rapidly,” he said. “But we don’t have accurate information about exactly how big it is, how fast it’s growing, and what the trends are.

“This research partnership will enable us to understand that, and will provide information that’s critical for publishers, advertisers and in the interactive market”. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ involvement in similar research programmes in Australia, USA, UK and other markets, was a critical factor in the IAB’s decision to partner with the firm here, according to Evans.

“Having a common methodology across the globe is imperative,” he said. “It means we can look for global trends such as increasing broadband or mobile penetration, and forecast the impact of those trends in our local market. We’ll know that the comparisons we make are accurate.”

Under the terms of the agreement, PricewaterhouseCoopers will be responsible for the collection of advertising spend data from interactive media owners, and compiling quarterly and annual reports.

John Deane, a director in Business Assurance at PricewaterhouseCoopers said an important part of his firm’s role was to provide publishers with confidence.

“They can provide data to us confidentially. We’re an independent, trusted third party and we will safeguard the information and prevent it from being misused,” he said. The IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers are setting up a team to develop a robust methodology for collecting and reporting the data. It is expected the first quarterly report will be delivered in the third quarter of this financial year.

Head of IAB’s Research Sub-Committee, Glen Maguire, is looking forward to working on the team. “This is something that’s essential to our market”, he said, “and we’re looking forward to releasing our first reports in Q3. It’s going to provide our members with a really good view of what’s actually happening in the market”. Partner Chris Perree, who leads the Business Assurance practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said he and his team were thrilled to be working with the IAB to deliver this research.

“We know this market is growing very quickly and with the emergence of new technologies such as high-speed mobile, faster broadband and TV over the internet, the stage is set for explosive growth in interactive advertising over the next few years.” Perree said the research findings would be instrumental in helping drive growth in the New Zealand market as they would provide organisations with the information they need to make decisions on interactive advertising investments.

“We’ve seen some massive investments here in the local market already with the likes of the Trade Me purchase by Fairfax,” he said. “All the signs point to this sort of activity happening more frequently here in New Zealand so it is great to have a role in such an exciting area of the advertising industry”.

ENDS

© Scoop Media