Just when the ad industry is starting to get their arms around the ‘net, the main comparative metric is becoming obsolete, with no clear successor. Evan Williams brought it into focus for a lot of us in August. Now, Steve Rubel has a timely article on the demise of the page view, and seems to be pulling up a front row seat to watch:

"As the page view platform crumbles, there’s going to be a shake out.
Everyone is going to scramble to find a metric that helps them compete
for ad dollars. Enjoy the show."

We can argue all day long about what should get measured instead (and we should, because we need something else), but that’s almost beside the point. The ad industry is losing one of the few tools for comparing online efforts and there is nothing on deck to take it’s place.

This shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone who’s been watching their own metrics. Page views is really a function of site design and coding, not necessarily interest or "engagement."

But, what next? More coming….