IAR Bits and Bytes

IMS Includes Yahoo Channel Info

IMS Media Solutions said Thursday that it would begin including channel-level data from Yahoo’s sprawling network, giving media planners a better handle on the reach and frequency of ads running there.

The company said it developed the tool in conjunction with Yahoo; it will be sold by Marketing Resources Plus, a media planner. The tool, called MRPrf, will gauge online reach and frequency to allow media planners to compare online’s performance against traditional media.

Previously, media planners could only measure the reach and frequency of Yahoo as a whole. The new capability will give media planners more detailed information about the performance of ads running on Yahoo’s 25 different channels, to compare the portal’s vertical properties against other media, such as cable TV, spot TV and radio.

Yahoo is the first network to develop the tool with IMS, the company said, but it expects others will look for customized tools that provide a better report of their networks’ performance against other media.

OPA Hits the Road

The Online Publishers Association (OPA) will begin an eight-city tour next week, looking to convince agencies that its members are attracting a large and affluent audience that cannot be ignored.

The “Eyes on the Internet 2003” tour will present the growing cache of research from the OPA showing that new sites are the media vehicle for reaching consumers during the day. Last month, the OPA took the lead in suggesting five defined dayparts for publishers to leverage their “primetime” at-work audience.

In addition, interactive marketing consultant Joseph Jaffe will present case studies of highly effective online advertising executions.

The road show begins next Thursday at the Chicago Ritz Carlton. The tour will make stops in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It will be in New York, at the Westin Hotel in Midtown, on April 10.

In January, MSN and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) embarked on a similar tour, presenting MSN and IAB case studies of online advertising best practices.

Vanquish Updates Beta Release

Anti-spam company Vanquish rolled out a new test version of its spam-fighting software.

Vanquish targets spam by offering emailers the option of maintaining a bonded account. Each email includes the option for the receiver to charge a small amount from the sender’s bond, typically a nickel, if it is unwanted. In this way, Vanquish seeks to solve the spam problem via a market-based approach.

Individual users’ accounts come with a $2 credit, which Vanquish reckons is enough to cover all of their emailing.

The new release has a variety of extras, including technology that tracks a user’s Web activity and builds a list of domains where a user has filled out a form or made a purchase. This allows confirmation messages to automatically go through.

The company said the new version is less bulky, starting up in about a quarter of the time it took before. In addition, the release will automatically configure users’ email addresses and clears up earlier difficulties with Vanquish corrupting some messages.

Since it was introduced in January, Vanquish has struck deals with a half dozen regional ISPs. It also recently received a round of angel funding led Peter Stern, a founder of Datek Online, and JD Gershan, the senior software architect at Ameritrade. The amount invested was not disclosed.