05 Nov Google Analytics eMetrics Surprise
Well, it was actually kind of an expected surprise… in my last post I mentioned that I’d be curious how Web analytics vendors might respond to Yahoo! Web Analytics at last month’s eMetrics Summit inWashington DC. In fact it was Google Analytics that “stole the show” with the introductions of a host of long-awaited features, including an API and Advanced Segmentation. The buzz at the conference was overwhelmingly positive, and both independent practitioners and Google Analytics partners have been providing plenty of color commentary on the features and cool things available, and so on and so on. From what I’ve seen, I agree for the most part… Sure I’d quibble about the value of a segmentation capability that focuses on visits and not visitors, and I found others at eMetrics who discussed issues they had with how Google Analytics cookies identify visitor status through a session or with how the segmentation report presentation was not to their liking, but this is almost besides the point in looking at how the analytics vendor landscape is changing. On one hand, there is, and will continue to be fragmentation in the market because web analytics has a low barrier of entry for the creation of new tools. This was my take after the last eMetrics, and this continues today. On the other hand, Google and now Yahoo! are using web analytics as part of online product platforms to drive revenue to their advertising and online store products. AdMob and Bango Analytics are doing this in the mobile analytics space; AdMob with its advertiser network and Bango with its payment services. This is all part of the “platformization” in web analytics.
Intelligent Enterprise, CA, By Phil Kemelor, November 4, 2008