Introduction to the FIAM reporting hierarchy

Introduction to the FIAM reporting hierarchy

Media level

In FIAM we have a measurable level consisting of the individual media entities you wish to measure (your website, iOS, Android, or Video app). We call each of these Media. Media tracking points are the atomic level of the reports and they are internally reportable among the measurement members, but not externally reported in the Toplists.

Media Title

The Media tracking points that represent the same branded media entity are grouped and reported as one Media Title. Media Titles are both internally and externally reported on the Media Title Toplist.

Reach out to the MMF for guidelines on what can or cannot be defined as part of the same Media Title.

Grouping level

Media Titles can be bundled into Groups. The Grouping level is flexible and can be used to identify a group of Media Titles related to other Media Titles with similar topics or based on sales organisations. The grouping level is both internally and externally reported on the Grouping Toplist.

Publisher level

All Media and Media Titles in your UserReport account are reported as one Publisher. The Publisher level is fixed and both internally and externally reported on the Publisher Toplist.

Section level

We have an additional (and optional) measurable level consisting of the individual sections you wish to measure (same sections are often available both on your website, iOS, Android, or Video app). We call each of these Sections. Section tracking points are the atomic level of the reports and they are internally reportable among the measurement members, but not externally reported in the Toplists.

It's important to understand that sections are measured as individual and separate entities to media. Sections can overlap (traffic to an article on Messi's recent goal can belong to both "Sport" and "Football" sections). In other words a Media is not the sum of it's sections.

Media Title Section level

The Section tracking points that represent the same section entity are grouped and reported as one Media Title section. Media Title sections are both internally and externally reported on the Media Title Toplist.

It's important to understand that Media Title sections are measured and reported as individual and separate entities to media titles. Sections can overlap and a Media Title is not the sum of it's Media title sections.

The relationship between the media title and the sub-section page views

In the FIAM measurement community, the question is sometimes raised why the page views between the media and its sections do not match - meaning that the total volume of sub-section page views included in the media may not always match the overall volume of the media title level, ie. it might be lower.

This is a feature of the FIAM measurement, not a bug. The FIAM measurement concept includes the possibility of measuring and reporting section page views and other metrics, but it is perfectly OK to measure only a part of the media level page views under the sub-sections.

Technically, the measurement system built by AudienceProject differs from many of the traditional digital analytics tools in that sub-section page views are sent as their own measurement calls instead of allocating one call to multiple measured units through parameters included in the call. In other words, the sub-section is always its own independent tracking point and entity, whose reach and other metrics are calculated from the data specifically collected for it. Conversely, the calculation of the media level is done from the data collected for that measurement point identifier, not as a roll-up or aggregation from the sub-section page views.

In terms of quality assurance, the sub-sections are also an independent entity, so the validation of the numbers required for inclusion in the FIAM list is done separately for the sections.