Web Analytics – Year 2008 in Retrospection
I love to read predictions made at the beginning of the year and look back at those predictions at the end of the year in retrospect. Click here to take a look at what people were talking about web analytics at the beginning of this year.
As we approach end of the year 2008, I have put together a timeline representation below to give the readers a snapshot view of the key developments in the area of Web Analytics and the direction taken by key players in the industry in the past year. I have tried to provide references wherever possible but this post can be best received if you are familiar with the Web Analytics market dynamics.
(For the benefit of the readers the links for each of these announcements are provided at the end of this post)
Looking at this timeline, this is my take on the activities which spun off from this landscape in last 12 months. (Thanks to the readers of this blog for their comments. This timeline visual was updated with reader's comments).
Consolidation in the industry
• Last couple of years clearly belonged to Omniture. Omniture succeeded in capturing the market buzz with a series of acquisitions and leaving the end retailers worrying about migrating from one vendor to the other - from WebSideStory to VisualSciences to Omniture. It consolidated its position further in this space in 2008 by completing the earlier acquisitions and helping the clients with the migration efforts from earlier acquired vendors.
• At the end of the year, current economic conditions offered an opportunity for Omniture to acquire Mercado’s assets in a fire sale. In Nov 2008 Omniture acquired Mercado’s assets and expanded its capabilities in Merchandizing optimization by launching Mercado Ignition in Dec 2008.
• Yahoo’s acquisition of IndexTools in April 2008 - and subsequently launching Yahoo Web Analytics in the later part of the year deserves a special mention. This should present some competition to Google Analytics in coming days.
Pick of the Year
Focus for the year 2008 has been definitely on the expanding Mobile analytics capabilities. M-Commerce has started to pick up (Amazon and Sears launched their m-Commerce efforts this year and I expect many more to follow the suit in the coming year) and the web analytics vendors are just gearing up for upcoming anticipated activity in this space.
• Omniture expanded its SiteCatalyst offering on mobile devices like Google Android and iPhone; whereas on the other hand Tealeaf became first analytics provider to offer mobile session replay capabilities.
• CoreMetrics also announced mobile analytics capabilities with the roll out of CoreMetrics 2009. NedStat and WebTrends also joined in the mobile analytics bandwagon.
My pick of the year would be Mobile Analytics without doubt.
Other Notable Mentions
Other major announcements by key vendors were mainly related to Video Analytics and Social Media analytics capabilities. In general, Year 2008 belonged to social media but still vendors and retailers are still trying to figure out how best to measure the effectiveness of social media efforts. I expect to see more action in this area in the coming years wherein the Web Analytics vendors will partner with more and more social networks to figure out ways to measure and discover customer insights. I also expect vendors to continue their focus on further improving their Video Analytics capabilities since it has become a proven sales improvement channel in the recent years.
Predictions are great to know the way the industry minds think, but reality takes its own due course sometimes. I would be greatly interested to know your thoughts on how this space is likely to shape out in the Year 2009. Please feel free to use the above timeline or other content from this post to evaluate your ideas.
Reference to key events highlighted in timeline diagram –
- Omniture completes acquisition of Visual Sciences (http://assets.omniture.com/en/downloads/pr/vscn_close_press_release_final.pdf)
- WebTrends Offers Current HBX Customers Migration Opportunity To Buy One Year of Analytics and Get One Year Free Under "Easy Switch" Program (http://www.cmscenter.be/newsdetailuk.asp?Id=748)
- Google launches YouTube insights (Analytics for YouTube Videos) (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080327-005425)
- Omniture Gets Into Video Tracking (http://newteevee.com/2008/03/05/omniture-enhances-tracking-lets-ers-analyze-video-use/)
- NedStat Introduces Mobile Analytics (http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/en/rel/?342)
- CoreMetrics Secures $60 Million in Financing Led by 3i (http://www.thedeal.com/techconfidential/vc-ratings/vc-ratings/web-marketing-firm-coremetrics.php)
- Yahoo acquires IndexTools (http://www.computing.co.uk/itweek/news/2213938/yahoo-makes-web-analytics)
- Google Analytics Starts Measuring TV Ads (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/06/tv-meet-the-web-google-analytics-starts-measuring-tv-ads/)
- WebTrends Launches Video Analytics Engagement Service (http://www.centernetworks.com/webtrends-video-analytics)
- Omniture & Lithium Partner to Integrate Social Media into Web Analytics (http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=27899)
- Yahoo Launches Yahoo Web Analytics (http://mashable.com/2008/10/08/yahoo-launches-web-analytics-beta/)
- CoreMetrics 2009 supports mobile analytics (http://www.webanalyticsbook.com/coremetrics/coremetrics-2009-rolled-out/)
- Google Analytics Releases Advanced Segmentation (http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2008/10/google-analytics-releases-advanced-segmentation.html)
- Tealeaf Debuts Mobile Customer Experience Management and Bot Reporting (http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/tealeaf-debuts-mobile-customer-experience-management-and-bot-reporting)
- Omniture SiteCatalyst Now Available for Google Android-Based Mobile Phones (http://corporate.lexisnexis.com/news/marketing,tracking-measurement-tools/cat300004_doc889111871.html)
- Omniture acquires Mercado (http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28105)
- Omniture Launches Mercado Ignition as Omniture Merchandising (http://www.internetretailer.com/pressReleaseDetail.asp?id=28760)
- Omniture Extends SiteCatalyst Measurement to Native iPhone Applications (http://www.cmscenter.be/newsdetailuk.asp?Id=960)
