According to her, impressions and clickthroughs-the number of users who saw the ad and clicked on the ad-are much more direct measurements than hits. The pricing model, therefore, she recommended, should be based on impressions rather than `flat rate per month' model, currently being used in India by most of the companies. While recommending an impressions-based delivery, Chandrasekaran laid emphasis on `flexibility, no wastage' of creatives.

``Companies can avoid creative fatigue by rotating about 20-30 creatives in real time,'' she said. Among the challenges this medium faces, Chandrasekaran said that the bandwidth continued to be low worldwide and particularly in India. Also as, the medium is extremely choice driven as compared to TV or print, the challenge is to reach out to more eyeballs-and monetise the eyeballs.

Among the commonly-used online ad instruments, Chandrasekaran said that direct mail or e-mail campaigns were increasingly gaining importance as compared to the routine routes such as banners, panels, interstitials, superstitials and sponsorships. From just IT companies, the profile of the companies advertising on the Net has changed dramatically in the last six months, she added. Increasingly FMCG companies, banks and others were also joing in.

Finally to the intrepid looking for an Web advertising partner, Chandrasekaran advises you to look out for: a user/browser base which matches your objectives and target audience; the ability to deliver impression based advertising; a willingness to experiment and work with you; a strong registered subscriber base; transparency; results - in terms of leads, clickthroughs and sales.