Traffic figures, their relative size and demographic formation, have long been a cornerstone of measuring an online properties relative worth. This has mirrored how offline media has been valued, from the BARB broadcast figures for radio and television, through to the ABC figures, prominent in the media packs of newspapers and magazines.

Traffic has most often been measured according to two criteria, unique visitors (UVs) & page impressions (PIs.) The first gives an indication as to the overall audience levels for the site, the second how much advertising space is likely to be available.

Thus display advertising has been traditionally priced, a combination of the attractiveness of the audience crossed with the amount of opportunities to reach them. This model has been creaking for a while under pressure from increasing traffic levels, not being matched by increased spend.

This has resulted in falling display advertising yields, and the increased amounts of remnant inventory…advertising which can’t be sold at the minimum amount the media owner is willing to take for it. This perhaps shouldn’t have presented much of a surprise to anyone who’s ever looked at supply and demand.

The Telegraph has become the first big UK media owner to my knowledge to state that they will not be actively chasing new traffic. According to a Guardian article, Telegraph.co.uk will now be focusing on the three C’s, Content, Commerce and Clubs.

What does this actually mean? My own feeling is that the Telegraph might be acting in a more sophisticated way to a number of it’s rivals. Not actively looking to increase traffic is a different from erecting a great big paywall in between the content and your potential audience.

By looking to build interest groups around particular areas, what the Telegraph could potentially looking to do is build targeted traffic bases. This could be an extension of what it has already acheived mostly offline through it’s wine club and other groups.

The demographics of the Telegraph audience make it appealing, and just think what an attractive proposition categorising that audience by genuine interest areas could be. This however will remain a much easier in theory and practice, and how much of the Telegraph’s audience will be willing to sign up for special interest sections remains to be seen.

Rob, MD, One