OPA's ranks swell as new publishers sign up

Creamer Media is the publisher of the Engineering News and Mining Weekly group of websites and magazines (www.engineeringnews.co.za; www.miningweekly.co.za); 5FM music publishes the radio station's official website (www.5fm.co.za); JHBLive (www.jhblive.co.za) is the Joburg-based entertainment and listing site; and Business in Africa publish both the Business in Africa magazine and website Business in Africa Online (www.businessinafrica.net).

The new members now bring the total number of online publishers that are part of the OPA to 21. The OPA currently accounts for about 3,5-million unique users or readers and 106-million page impressions.

OPA Chairperson Russel Hanly welcomed the new members to the association, saying each of them bring specific expertise in publishing categories which are not currently represented amongst the existing members of the OPA.

"The most important priority for the OPA this year has been to focus on launching an industry standard for web audience measurement and secondly to broaden the membership base. The comparative Nielsen's Site Census audience figures for the month of August have been recently released, and the response form the marketing and advertising industry, has been overwhelmingly positive," says Hanly.

"Undoubtedly, this has attracted the interest of the wider online publishing industry, and today we are able to welcome four new members in Creamer Media, 5FM, Joburg Live and Business in Africa," he says.

For more about the OPA, visit www.opa.org.za.