This chapter provides the structural and historical background for the analysis of web analytics. It traces the distinct relationships and quantitative modes of representation that developed between journalists and their publics over the course of the past century and a half. It also relates developments from the different trajectories of the journalistic field in the United States and France. The chapter offers a comparative genealogy of how the relationship between journalists and their readers shapes current interpretations and debates about web analytics. It also argues how impossible it is to separate the question of publics from the broader and conflicting forces that shape journalistic field.