What data is collected by Gemius via the international internet survey, gemiusAudience?

Gemius collects two types of data – technical and socio-demographic.

What kind of technical information is collected by Gemius?

The technical data collected by Gemius is primarily statistics relating to visits to monitored websites. This is only for those websites where the owners have inserted special research scripts into the source code, which enable the browser to forward information to the Gemius computing centres – for example, the number of hits on a given website. This data does not contain any confidential information about the internet users browsing the monitored websites. It is used mainly by e-publishers for pricing advertising space, and by advertisers for analysing the effectiveness of online advertising campaigns.

And what other data is used in the gemiusAudience survey?

The second type of data collected and analysed by Gemius comes from questionnaires completed by internet users interested in participating in the gemiusAudience survey. Users can anonymously answer questions relating to gender, age, education, income and place of residence. This socio-demographic data helps, for example, with the planning of advertising campaigns. Internet users who have successfully completed a questionnaire on the appropriate website, and have installed a special program on their computer to monitor website visits, are called panellists. Another type of survey, known as a research panel, involves continuous measurement and the participation of subjects over a long period.

How do the research scripts that publishers place in website codes actually work? Do internet users have anything to worry about?

The research script is activated by the browser reading the website code. A display banner appears on the website informing visitors about the collection and use of cookies for statistical purposes. If the internet user accepts the website’s terms of use, thereby agreeing to the collection and use of cookies, then the research script saves a small file on the user’s computer. The research script does not collect any personal information about internet users and operates in accordance with Polish law. So internet users have nothing to worry about.

Does the collection of statistical data on website views slow down the computer while browsing?

The size of the research scripts and cookies are negligible compared to the content downloaded while viewing websites. The load on an operating system (such as Windows) with Gemius scripts can be compared to viewing a small static advert on a website. This is a really small burden in comparison to watching a video on YouTube, for example.

And do websites containing the visit-counting research script run slower than others?

What if someone doesn’t want to participate in the Gemius survey?

They simply visit the appropriate website and save the special optout cookie to their browser with just one click. The internet user will then be omitted from surveys conducted by Gemius. It should be emphasized that only browsers with the saved optout cookie are not included in Gemius surveys. This applies both to the production of statistics on specific websites as well as displayed adverts.

So is it worth participating in the gemiusAudience survey?

Participation in the gemiusAudience survey is completely anonymous; it does not involve any risk or problems with computer or internet use. In addition, every internet user who helps with surveying the internet in Poland is contributing to the creation of a current and accurate image of the virtual world. The greater the number of respondents included in the statistics, the more reliable they are, and as a result they represent a valuable source for scientific studies on the internet.