The Online Publishers Association selects a web analytics/metrics vendor

OPA Chairman Russel Yeo says "Having a sound, standard measurement system has always been the foundation of building trust in any medium for marketers and advertisers. Putting in place a single common standard will give marketing professionals detailed and trustworthy data to work with, and will make the Online Publishing industry more visible and accountable."

The OPA received an overwhelming response to the request for proposals.

Founded in 1996, RedSheriff focuses on providing monitoring and analysis to publishers of Web site locations. RedSheriff is globally recognized as one of the largest providers of Web analytics with its core competency based on collecting and integrating global intelligence and local knowledge.

OPA Measurement committee head, JP Farinha "RedSheriff was the most comprehensive of all the bidders in relation to the OPA's requirements. It has both individual site analysis as well as a Market Intelligence interface which allows a unified view of all member sites. RedSheriff also shows a clear understanding of what publishers and agencies require."

"RedSheriff was appointed as the Standard last year based on the effective collaboration of New Zealand's Online Publisher's Group who united to address a common need within the online industry", states Richard Webb, Red Sheriff CEO. "Based on the success in this market, RedSheriff has received a number of requests to replicate its services in countries throughout the world. South Africa is a region we have prioritized given the necessity to correct these previous methodologies and present some consistent guidelines".

The implementation of the new measurement system is expected to be completed by December of 2003.