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This depends on monetization. If you're selling copies of newspapers, 2 purchases by 1 customer = 2 purchases. The number of customers is irrelevant. If you'r

This depends on monetization. If you're selling copies of newspapers, 2 purchases by 1 customer = 2 purchases. The number of customers is irrelevant. If you're monetizing via on-page ads or affiliate links (as the author is), revenue is much more likely to correlate to unique visitors than to page views.

sandworm101 6y ago
>> revenue is much more likely to correlate to unique visitors That's the bit I don't understand. Why does an advertiser not value a customer seeing an ad twice, or for a longer time? In fact I would say that those customers are much more valuable because their multiple views bookend an extended period of viewing an ad. If I view a website at home in the morning, then again while at work, I have been exposed to that ad for many minutes, as opposed to one-time readers who click away within seconds. That has to be worth something more.
- reaperducer 6y ago
  You're on to more than you think. In traditional media, it's pretty much an axiom that people have to see the same ad at least seven times in order to get the message. There is no sin in showing the same advertisement more than once. It's why, for example, advertisers pay extra to have their ad appear at both the beginning and end of a commercial break on television. It's called "bookending." When digital advertising started, the ad companies decided that someone seeing the same ad more than once was a bad thing, and then convinced their advertisers this was true. I don't know why this happened. Maybe the digital people had some data that proved it. Maybe the digital people were just computer people and not advertising people and so didn't know about the decades of prior research into this. But it's where we are now. Digital advertising companies value unique visitors, so web site owners do, too.
  - ascar 6y ago
    I always thought this was mostly to prevent fraud. If you pay for multiple views by the same user, it's much easier to generate revenue from fake views.
  - ksec 6y ago
    I dont know why either, but to me viewing traditional TV with same ads every 15 min or 30 min is not an annoyance, but doing it on Youtube or Website is god damn annoying. To the point where I think the brand is trying too hard and I have negative feelings with it. There are huge difference in Online / Digital Media consumption compared to traditional media like Tv and NewsPaper. And may be I am old I tend to value the latter a lot more.
kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
The value is screen time. If a user spends ten minutes on a site and comes back on a different IP for another ten minutes they're twice as valuable even without knowing they're the same person.

sandworm101 6y ago

>> revenue is much more likely to correlate to unique visitors That's the bit I don't understand. Why does an advertiser not value a customer seeing an ad twice, or for a longer time? In fact I would say that those customers are much more valuable because their multiple views bookend an extended period of viewing an ad. If I view a website at home in the morning, then again while at work, I have been exposed to that ad for many minutes, as opposed to one-time readers who click away within seconds. That has to be worth something more.

reaperducer 6y ago
You're on to more than you think. In traditional media, it's pretty much an axiom that people have to see the same ad at least seven times in order to get the message. There is no sin in showing the same advertisement more than once. It's why, for example, advertisers pay extra to have their ad appear at both the beginning and end of a commercial break on television. It's called "bookending." When digital advertising started, the ad companies decided that someone seeing the same ad more than once was a bad thing, and then convinced their advertisers this was true. I don't know why this happened. Maybe the digital people had some data that proved it. Maybe the digital people were just computer people and not advertising people and so didn't know about the decades of prior research into this. But it's where we are now. Digital advertising companies value unique visitors, so web site owners do, too.
- ascar 6y ago
  I always thought this was mostly to prevent fraud. If you pay for multiple views by the same user, it's much easier to generate revenue from fake views.
- ksec 6y ago
  I dont know why either, but to me viewing traditional TV with same ads every 15 min or 30 min is not an annoyance, but doing it on Youtube or Website is god damn annoying. To the point where I think the brand is trying too hard and I have negative feelings with it. There are huge difference in Online / Digital Media consumption compared to traditional media like Tv and NewsPaper. And may be I am old I tend to value the latter a lot more.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago

The value is screen time. If a user spends ten minutes on a site and comes back on a different IP for another ten minutes they're twice as valuable even without knowing they're the same person.