Comparing Apples to Apples
Understanding how to use comScore’s hybrid methodology for measurement
Given the importance of online measurement to the digital media industry, Yahoo! wanted to take a moment to highlight a significant shift in measurement methodology currently taking place. ComScore recently moved to a “hybrid” measurement methodology, which combines traditional panel-based tracking with publisher-deployed beacons. As a market leader we think this shift will bring improvements to our industry’s ability to differentiate itself from other mediums, but there may be a short-term period of confusion as the industry becomes exposed to the changes throughout this transition.
Yahoo! applauds this combined methodology because we think it draws upon a medium strength that is uniquely digital: our ability to fully measure audience size and engagement on our content and services. The industry has called for improvements in the measurement space for some time now, and we hope this shift will foster more accurate measurement, and allow for greater transparency in media planning for agencies and advertisers. We believe it will also reveal that past methodologies have significantly under-represented Internet usage globally.
At the same time, Yahoo! highly recommends that anyone using third-party audience data as a decision-making tool take the time to understand the methodologies underlying the data. ComScore has established a “hybrid transition period” from now until May 2010, during which it will be publishing panel-only category measurement and hybrid category measurement side by side. The hybrid data will include publishers that have beaconed and publishers that have not. As a result, newly beaconed publishers may see a significant increase in reported usage (we have yet to see a decline among beaconed sites), and will be compared directly with publishers who have not deployed beacons and who remain sized per the previous methodology. Until comScore can more fully integrate the two methodologies in their reported numbers, Yahoo! believes that advertisers could be confused by the data, given its apples-to-oranges nature.
During its transition period, comScore will use only the panel-only figures for its official rankings but use the hybrid data for other reports. If you are consuming directly from comScore’s Media Metrix user-interface, make sure you are paying careful attention to which methodology you are pulling your data from, to ensure proper trending, ranking, and market-sizing are baked into your efforts. If you’ve received reported publisher rankings and trending from a partner, make sure you understand which methodology the numbers are based on. And, if you have any questions, we recommend you contact comScore directly.
Despite any possible short-term market confusion, Yahoo! supports merged measurement methodologies, and we applaud comScore as one of the first big movers in this area. We believe this shift will ultimately benefit the industry as a whole and we look forward to a future state when agencies and advertisers have full confidence in the data they are working with to inform media plans around the world.
—Nick Besbeas, Yahoo! senior VP of consumer marketing and insights
