How We Do It

There are three principle ways to measure Internet usage.  A panel of users can be measured at their computers with installed software (user-centric), marketers can monitor how visitors interact with a specific website (site-centric), or data can be collected directly from ISP networks (network-centric).

The network-centric methodology employed by Hitwise enables the most efficient way of monitoring of how more people visit more websites than any other way of measuring Internet usage.

Hitwise has developed proprietary software that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use to analyze website usage logs created on their network. The anonymous data sent to Hitwise from the ISPs include a range of industry standard metrics relating to the viewing of websites including page requests, visits and average visit length.

Hitwise is also able to combine this rich ISP data with region specific demographic and lifestyle information across thousands of website that are reported on every day.

Because of the extensive sample size of data analyzed (25 million people worldwide, including 10 million in the US), Hitwise can also provide detailed insights into the search terms used to find thousands of sites as well as a range of clickstream reports, analyzing the movements of visitors between sites.

Hitwise collects aggregate usage statistics from a geographically diverse range of ISP networks in metropolitan and regional areas, representing all types of Internet usage including home, work, educational and public access.

To ensure the ISP and opt-in data is accurate and representative, it is weighted to universe estimates in each market.

Hitwise only extracts aggregate information from ISP networks and no personal information is seen or captured by Hitwise in accordance with local and international privacy guidelines. Hitwise's methodology is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers on an annual basis.

Privacy

PricewaterhouseCoopers have conducted an audit on specific Hitwise management assertions on privacy practices and data integrity, which are included in the accompanying Management Statement - click here to read their report.