The better methods

As the dot-com shakeout breeds greater scrutiny of online-business models, two new companies say they have better methods of collecting data about Web surfers. ESTABLISHED INTERNET-RESEARCH companies such as Jupiter Media Metrix Inc. and Nielsen/NetRatings, a joint venture between ACNielsen and NetRatings Inc., say they offer a detailed analysis that can tell clients just who is looking at their sites and when. But a pair of upstarts — Plurimus Corp. and comScore Network Inc.’s netScore service — claim their figures are more comprehensive.At the height of the dot-com boom, Web statistics, or metrics, became an increasingly important way to gauge companies that lacked traditional measures of success such as revenue and earnings. Some of the luster of metrics has worn off, in part because of discrepancies between numbers from some leading measurement firms. However, the numbers remain important to online companies and their advertising clients. Still, it remains to be seen if the current dot-com environment will support four measurement providers. Media Metrix and NetRatings randomly telephone people to assemble what the companies say are representative samples of the Internet users. Media Metrix has a sample size of about 55,000 people and NetRatings monitors about 70,000. Plurimus, which began publicly selling its research products last week, says it monitors 3.5 million users by gathering data from Internet-service providers, or ISPs. The company, which formerly used the name Foveon, says it chose its new Latin moniker because it means “many.” The netScore service, launched in January, claims to track one million users. The service, which offers general information about nationwide Internet use, recently received a stamp of approval from online-advertising company DoubleClick Inc. in the form of a reseller agreement. The two contenders have scored some high-profile customers. Plurimus clients include online retailer Amazon.com Inc., while netScore has signed up American Express Co. During the past two years, Plurimus, of Durham, N.C., has hashed out relationships with more than 50 ISPs to give it access to data on millions of Internet users around the U.S. Because Plurimus gets its data from ISPs and doesn’t require Web users to opt into their program, the company says it avoids the biases that can affect data collected by firms that must recruit users and get their permission to monitor their online behavior. Users who know “someone’s watching” may choose not to visit certain Web sites, said Tracy Scott, president and chief executive of Plurimus. Plurimus uses high-tech encryption-data technology to make all information it collects completely anonymous. Because Plurimus gathers information from ISPs around the country, it says it can analyze activities of Web users down to a geographic area smaller than a local zip code.