New Tablet Metrics Reporting: Calling Shotgun After the Fact

Declaring "Shotgun" used to frustrate me as a kid. A group of us would be heading towards a vehicle, and instantly there’d be a race for the optimal spot: the front passenger seat. Originally, the race would be literal, and tiny legs would pump hard to get to the passenger door first. As we got a little older, a little cooler, the rules shifted and it became a race to call out "Shotgun!" before anyone else in the party thought of it, thus declaring the front seat as yours.

The Shotgun concept comes to mind as I read about the new magazine guidelines for reporting tablet metrics. MPA has released optional guidelines for publishers to provide in their reporting. The goal seems to be to give advertisers an idea of what kind of metrics are important to know to leverage the power of the tablet. Specifically, they include number of issues, readers per issue, visits or "sessions", time spent, and number of repeat visits per reader per issue.

The metrics aren’t new. Standard to our product is comprehensive reporting which tracks metrics per issue, per device, per page, or even per link. Our clients can set up dashboards which present them with metrics they want to see and which they know matter to their advertisers. What’s more, our Success Team regularly consults on how to position both the desktop and mobile versions to advertisers. From the very beginning, Nxtbook pumped data to our customers n the format and frequency of their choice.

Now that more have joined the race and feel comfortable in it, the rules are solidifying and publishers are declaring shotgun in this field. The new MPA guidelines are providing a language publishers can choose to use to break down information for advertisers. Reporting hasn’t changed; they’ve just declared a new way to present it. Of course, if it sounds like part of your reporting methods is missing or you don’t know how to use the numbers to inform your advertisers, then it’s time to give us a call.