comScore Enhances Reporting of Ad Networks Audiences – YuMe Concerns Addressed

Leading digital measurement firm has quickly responded (even if only indirectly) to the can of worms opened by the YuMe story.

You may still have it fresh in your memory what the problem was: YuMe claimed inconsistent measurement for ad networks, sometimes considering only the traffic actually monetized, and sometimes considering the whole traffic.

comScore has decided to report both potential reach and actual reach for online advertising networks, putting an end to the speculations. Please find below the press release in full.



RESTON, VA, August 12, 2008 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced that it will provide enhanced measurement of the audiences for online advertising networks effective with August data, which will be released in mid-September. The new reporting structure will provide two sets of measures—the “potential reach” for each network and an “actual reach” reading.

The “potential reach” measure will be a calculation of the unduplicated visitors to all sites with which each ad network has contracted to deliver advertising. The definitions will be based on written documentation and confirmation provided by the networks. This measure represents the largest potential reach a network could deliver if all parts of the network are used to deliver ads.

The “actual reach” measure will represent the reach of the ads that are actually served by the network during a given reporting period. In order to report “actual reach,” networks must participate by providing comScore with the appropriate identification protocols for rendered ads. Consequently, only participating networks will be included in the “actual reach” report.

“We believe these two toolsets provide the information that ad agencies need when they are deciding on which advertising networks to consider for ad buys. And, the ad networks will have the high quality, third-party information needed to compete for advertising dollars,” commented Magid Abraham, President and CEO of comScore, Inc. “Ad networks are a vital means of monetizing most Web sites and delivering high reach to advertisers. These new metrics provides ad networks, agencies and advertisers with the accurate information needed for buying and selling advertising.”

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.