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72 Part 1 Introduction
Box 2.2 Infomediaries and metamediaries
Infomediaries which have developed in response to the online marketplace include:
Online audience panel or research providers selling information of online audience
behaviour and media consumption such as Comscore, Hitwise and Nielsen Netratings
listed in Table 2.2.
E-mail list brokers who obtain permission to e-mail consumers or businesses, for
example TMN Group plc (www.tmnplc.com) holds over 8 million e-mail addresses
of UK consumers and businesses.
Advertising networks such as DoubleClick (www.doubleclick.com) or Google AdWords
(http://adwords.google.com) which through relationships with publishers offer adver-
tising services which are based partly on audience behaviour in responding to ads.
Metamediaries Another term you may hear associated with intermediaries, is ‘metamediary’. This is an
Intermediaries providing important class of intermediary that bring buyers and sellers together, providing inde-
information to assist with
selection and discussion pendent information. The prefix ‘meta’ is from the Greek term meaning ‘adjacent or with’
about different products and can be thought of as information an intermediary can provide about a product or
and services.
service to assist with product selection. Metacritic (www.metacritic.com, Figure 2.11)
provides reviews of music and movies from traditional publications and community
reviewers and adds value by ranking them in order – an essential site! It is an ad-funded
Internet start-up which was purchased by CNET Networks, also known for their compar-
ison sites about electronic products and their shareware service (www.download.com).
Price comparison sites can be considered to be a type of metamediary although
how truly independent they are will depend on their advertising and editorial policies!
Metacritic (www.metacritic.com)
Figure 2.11
Source: CBS Interactive.
