I-COM worldmeasurementnews

Interview Exclusive with Linda Abraham, CMO, comScore on expanding their geographic focus

Linda Abraham (LA), CMO, comScore speaks with I-COM World Measurement News Blog author, Andreas Cohen (AC), about comScore's products and future

AC: comScore seems to be expanding its geographic focus. Is this the case and, if so where do you see comScore heading? Do you plan to grow organically or through partnerships and acquisitions?

LA: Today, we’re already more international than most people realize. We have offices in the UK, Canada, France, Singapore, and Japan. There is no question that during the first 10 years of comScore’s existence, we’ve largely been developing our products in North America and the larger Western European markets. But we’re deliberately shifting our focus to the rest of the world. With the acquisition of Certifica, we now have a significant presence in Latin America, including offices in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Columbia. We’re also expanding our presence in Asia. What’s exciting for us is that we already have a global panel, and our products lend themselves to being scaled globally, while also enabling local customization. At the moment, we’re publishing audience measurement data for 41 individual countries. International expansion is a major growth area for us—it’s a question of which markets we go after first. We’re looking at all kinds of models to accomplish this—organic expansion, partnerships, reseller agreements, and acquisitions. From a global perspective, we feel we’re just getting started.

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Interview Exclusive with Linda Abraham, CMO, comScore: Does going hybrid mean higher audience figures?

Linda Abraham (LA), CMO, comScore, speaks with I-COM World Measurement News Blog author, Andreas Cohen (AC), about comScore's products and future.

AC: What kind of adoption are you getting in the marketplace, and how is your approach affecting measurement? Is it true that going hybrid with comScore means a Web site is guaranteed to have higher audience figures than if it were measured by pure panel-based approaches?

LA: We’re quite pleased by the very strong adoption rate of Media Metrix 360. To date, we have 60% of the top 50 media sites in both the UK and Canada, and 75% in the US participating, with a long list of additional sites in each country that will be participating in the next 60 to 90 days. This confirms both that this is an idea that the market strongly supports, and also that we’ve made implementation very easy. Clients can either beacon with us directly, or they can leverage beacons that are already implemented for web analytics, either through Omniture or, for clients in South America, through Certifica, a company which we’ve recently acquired. We’re currently rolling this approach out in the rest of the world and indications are that it will continue to be well-received.

The question about the implication for measurement is interesting. The answer is that it really depends on a lot of factors. Clearly, for niche oriented sites, long tail sites, and for sites with a large work audience, we’re seeing increases in audience sizes with our hybrid approach. Work measurement has always been difficult for any panel, including ours, to measure well because many companies prohibit their employees from installing foreign code on their work computers, so sites with large at-work audiences are also seeing increases. For very large sites, we’re finding that the numbers are, in many cases, not very different than those we reported using a pure-panel approach. However, at the channel level, it varies. So bottom line, our panel-centric hybrid approach clearly adds an additional level of rigor to our measurement, but it’s difficult to predict the degree of the change beforehand.

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Interview Exclusive with Linda Abraham, CMO, comScore: How is comScore’s hybrid approach different?

Linda Abraham (LA) speaks with I-COM World Measurement News Blog author, Andreas Cohen (AC), about comScore's products and future.

AC: comScore’s Media Metrix 360 is a hybrid approach to audience measurement, blending panel and site centric (server side) measurement, correct? There are a number of companies who have been using hybrid approaches in Europe for a number of years. How is comScore’s different?

LA: While the idea of blending panel and server measurement is not new, Media Metrix 360 is a ‘panel centric hybrid’ that is quite different from other approaches in a number of important ways. First, we’ve built a very rigorous process of leveraging our panel to reconcile and validate census data for audience measurement purposes. The unmatched size of our panel (2MM worldwide) provides quite a robust set of data that allows us to do this in a unique way.There are methods of counting for web analytics that don’t apply in an audience measurement context. As an example, for page optimization purposes, web analytics processes allow multiple items on a page to be beaconed and counted separately. If a page has a video, a widget, some flash content, each can be beaconed and counted separately, While this makes sense from a web analytics perspective, this should only be counted as one page for audience measurement purposes—and the counting method needs to be uniform across sites. By leveraging our panel, we can cross reference and verify the page counts, making sure each page is being counted once and only once, and that all pages that are counted are legitimate pages by audience measurement standards.

In addition, there are some very important dynamics between cookies and individual users that need to be taken into account. Cookie deletion is an obvious factor. Some hybrid approaches make general or ‘average’ adjustments to estimate the impact. Our research has shown that there is a lot of variation on cookie deletion behavior at the individual person level, and that it varies by both the size of the site and the frequency of visitation. Our methodology accounts for these factors. In addition, there are a host of issues related to allocating a given session to the correct person using the computer that are uniquely addressed with our method. Things like multiple cookies per user (from different browsers), multiple users per cookie, and multiple machines per user need to be taken into account. So yes, there are a lot of ‘hybrid’ approaches out there, but we believe ours is the first to leverage a panel in this way, and that we are the first to apply the methodology on a global basis. That’s why we refer to it as ‘panel centric hybrid.’

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In US, Jane Clarke Named Managing Director of the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM)

NEW YORK – (December 8, 2009) – The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) today named Jane Clarke its Managing Director. As the newly created group’s first Managing Director, Clarke will oversee all day-to-day operations for CIMM, including management of the RFI process, vendor relationships and the resulting research studies. Clarke will report directly to the CIMM Executive Board.

"Jane has the knowledge, experience and relationships to drive a collaborative effort like CIMM toward identifying excellence in media measurement innovation," said Colleen Fahey Rush, Chairman of the CIMM Executive Board and Executive Vice President of Strategic Insights and Research for MTV Networks. "CIMM needs a strong dedicated leader to maintain and grow its early momentum, and we’re thrilled to have someone of Jane’s caliber in this crucial role."

As Managing Director, Clarke will be responsible for developing CIMM’s strategy and vision as it promotes innovation in traditional and new media measurement. Clarke will coordinate communications among and supply monthly updates to CIMM member companies, while facilitating new membership for interested television content providers, media agencies and advertisers.

"As change accelerates across the media landscape, it’s imperative that content providers and marketers work together to articulate our shared needs and spark innovation in measurement," said Clarke. "I’m looking forward to working with all our member companies to develop measurement that will power the continued growth and evolution of the media industry." More...

Guy Phillipson, CEO, Internet Advertising Bureau, UK to hold the keynote at I-COM National Roundtable Portugal

The I-COM under the patronage of the Portuguese Joint Industry Committee, CAEM (Commission for Media Study Analysis) will hold a National Roundtable on November 26th in Lisbon. Based on his experience on launching UKOM, Guy Phillipson, CEO, Internet Advertising Bureau UK, will speak about "The Building Blocks for Sustained Growth".

As of last week, the seats allotted to CAEM were all taken. However, due to the strong demand, we have decided offer a limited amount of additional tickets, subject to approval by CAEM. Those interested, please click here.

Microsoft Sites Captures Largest Share of Time Spent Online Worldwide

Facebook and YouTube Combined Account for Nearly 10 Percent of Time Spent Online Globally

RESTON, VA, November 6, 2009 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of online engagement at the top worldwide properties based on data from its comScore World Metrix service. The study found that Microsoft Sites captured nearly 15 percent of time spent online worldwide in September, making it the most engaging global property, followed by Google Sites and Yahoo! Sites. Facebook.com, which continues to see significant growth on a worldwide basis, was the fourth most engaging destination with visitors spending 1.4 billion hours on the site in September, up 193 percent from the previous year. More...

comScore to Acquire Certifica, Significantly Expanding comScore’s Footprint in Latin America

RESTON, VA, October 29, 2009 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced entry into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Certifica, a leader in web measurement in Latin America. The acquisition helps enhance comScore’s presence and brand in the rapidly-developing Latin American market and positions the company for further expansion in the region.

Based in Santiago, Chile, Certifica has offices throughout Latin America, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Peru. The company was founded in 2000 with the goal of becoming the leading analyst and auditor of Internet traffic measurement and has won the endorsement of the IAB in several Latin American countries to publish cross site statistics on Internet usage. The sites measured by Certifica will be available for inclusion (on an opt-in basis) in comScore’s Media Metrix 360 hybrid measurement solution, which combines panel-based audience measurement data and Web site analytics data to provide a more comprehensive view of activity, beginning in early 2010. The enhanced methodology will account for the full universe of Internet usage, including traffic from Internet cafes and mobile devices.

Under the direction of Alejandro Fosk, founder and former CEO of Certifica and now SVP and General Manager of comScore Latin America, comScore plans to sell and service the full suite of comScore products in the region.

“We are very excited to be joining forces with Certifica. Alejandro and his team have established a strong local presence, a high quality portfolio of services, and an excellent reputation for client service,” said Linda Abraham, comScore CMO and EVP of Global Product Management. “Latin America currently represents 9 percent of the world’s population, and although the Internet penetration there is relatively low compared to some other parts of the world, it is growing at a rapid pace, presenting growth opportunities for many advertisers and publishers. With 57 percent of the population under the age of 25, Latin America also owns the title of ‘the youngest continent’ and represents a sophisticated, engaged and connected Internet user base. This acquisition will strengthen our presence in the region and enable us to offer hybrid measurement as part of our Media Metrix 360 initiative using the same state-of-the-art measurement technologies we use elsewhere in the world. We warmly welcome our Certifica colleagues into the comScore team.”

“comScore is an ideal partner to leverage Certifica’s existing expertise in Latin America and provide the market with a more comprehensive digital measurement platform that will promote the growth of the online advertising market,” said Alejandro Fosk, founder and former CEO of Certifica. “We are excited that Certifica’s clients will have access to comScore’s robust reporting platform, which will enable them to understand the complete digital landscape and lead to new ways to optimize their digital marketing strategies.” More...

Gemius wins IAB Turkey Internet Audience Measurement tender

Gemius writes: Gemius recently won a tender for analysing the Turkish internet audience which was submitted by IAB Turkey. The President of IAB Turkey, Levent Erden, emphasised that the company’s primary objective is to obtain a reasonable share in advertising budgets next year, adding that: “Internet Audience Measurement will be one of the major tools to develop the interactive market even faster in Turkey. The selection process for a research company was conducted extremely scrupulously. All major companies were invited and three were shortlisted out of the original seven. Gemius was selected for its efficient methodology and its ability to respond to the requirements of the market with success.”

“I am extremely happy we have launched this most advanced of audience hybrid methodology measurements in Turkey. IAB Turkey has taken an important step in choosing research that will greatly benefit the market using expertise gained from the perspective of both emerging and developed markets. I strongly believe that initiating internet audience measurements will stimulate the rapid growth of the Turkish internet market and will dramatically boost internet ad spends,” says Filip Pieczyński, vice-president of Gemius SA. More...

In UK, UKOM reveals details of online planning system

New Media Age writes: UKOM confirmed the panel-based measurement system, provided by The Nielsen Company, would be available from January. The audience planning system (APS) will be based on a panel of at least 31,000 consumers at home aged over two, with a further panel of 4,000 individuals at work. It will supply audience data on sites down to 35,000 unique visitors, reporting page views and time spent.

Matt Simpson, head of digital at OMD Group and chair of the IPA Digital Group, said the panel should help address the problem of the small budgets currently being allocated to brand activity online. OMD estimates that of the £3.7bn spent on brand advertising in the UK, only £180m is spent online. More...

In UK, UKOM names Douglas McArthur as chairman

UKOM writes: Tuesday, 13 October 2009, Douglas McArthur OBE, former chief executive and founder of the Radio Advertising Bureau has been named as the chairman of UKOM – the UK online audience measurement company. The announcement comes at a crucial time for UKOM, as it prepares for the January 2010 launch of its Audience Planning System, powered by the Nielsen Company.

A media heavyweight and highly relevant appointment, McArthur worked to develop the radio audience measurement system, RAJAR, in 1992. At the head of the RAB, he spent 14 years leading and sustaining radio's revenue share growth from 2% to 7%, and in May 2006 launched his own marketing consultancy – Planning for Results.

As independent chair, McArthur will ensure that the key stakeholders are able to contribute to the development of UKOM: agencies and advertisers, primarily via their representative trade bodies the IPA and ISBA, and UK publishers. McArthur has been working with UKOM in a consultancy role since Mark Cranmer stood down from UKOM earlier this year to join Aegis Media's digital agency network Isobar, as chief executive. More...