What does Comscore do?

Comscore is a global media measurement and analytics company. They offer 3rd-party measurement of audience demographics and performance for media across multiple mediums. From their own definition;

Comscore is a trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms. With transformative data science and vast audience insights across digital, linear TV, over-the-top (OTT) and theatrical viewership, we are a powerful third-party source for reliable measurement of cross-platform audiences.

The idea behind 3rd-party audience tracking is to bring transparency to media and marketing, so businesses can use data to drive growth.

What are Comscore rankings and how do they work?

Comscore’s rankings are founded on the audience measurement services they sell/provide to publishers. The Comscore Media Matrix, which in 2016 accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) uses a series of “panels” to measure audiences.

These audience measurement services are often observed by advertisers and agencies. The main differentiator between Comscore and other web analytics solutions (like Google Analytics) is that their primary goal is to measure exactly who an audience is and their consumption behavior. It takes a slightly more traditional way of looking at human visitors since many mechanisms for tracking audiences across television and other legacy mediums are less objective than digital has become. Additionally, their panel method defines pageviews across all sites.

That said, the panels and measurement techniques used by ComScore, and competitor Neilson, both rely greatly on voluntary participation from all ecosystem parties to provide their composite scoring. This means audiences, publishers, and agencies/advertisers must all bend to the will of these 3rd parties if they want to participate in these systems.

Traditionally, the tracking of audiences has been wrought with criticism. But, recent acquisitions by large tech companies, like Moat, have demonstrated the value of tracking across the ecosystem; as both publishers and advertisers have long relied on an arbiter for campaign delivery.

Are Comscore rankings something that advertisers and publishers care about?

Advertisers and publishers do often care about Comscore rankings but not in the way that many might assume. The gross majority of advertisers likely have no idea what they are and pay little attention to these services. Agencies and top 50 brand publishers often pay much more attention to these metrics; as they are typically a point of contention in negotiating ad contracts. Comscore and their competitors live as a middle man in-between.

If a publisher doesn’t include Comscore pixels on their pages (often because they slow down sites and can cause errors), they’ll not be counted in Comscore’s rankings. But that actually doesn’t mean an advertiser won’t target an audience on their site…

... So, advertisers that DO use Comscore when buying through an agency will still target audiences on publisher sites that don’t use Comscore or their competitors.

So, what’s the point if you’re a digital publisher? It depends on the goals of a publisher. There’s little monetary incentive or advantage for just about anyone of the or digital publisher side, depending on which industry expert you ask. However, it is a competitive point of contention among some of the long-running media brands that used to depend on these scores or rankings for TV buying campaigns.

What does the Comscore Panel measure?

The panel measurements comprise the Comscore rankings—a monthly list of the top 50 digital properties across the web ranked by the number of unique visitors from highest to lowest.

Who or what makes up Comscore panels?

The “panelists” are identified by Comscore as either home or work-based machines. These have to be personally owned by the panelist (or household) to qualify them as home panelists. Computers owned by an employer qualify as work computers.

Some of the things the panel methodology can register unique visits across:

• Internet activity from all web entities, regardless of browser type
• Private browsing sessions / Secure sessions
• Content elements / streaming / instant messaging
• Web-based technologies and protocols

The panel is then weighted and projected to the home and work Internet universes in the United States, which allows the behavior of panelists to be projected to the U.S. Home and Work Internet user populations at large.

There are several pros and cons to using Comscore’s products and services.

Pros:

1. Accurate measurement: Comscore’s data and insights are highly accurate and reliable, providing a clear and unbiased view of the digital landscape.
2. Cross-platform measurement: Comscore’s products allow for the measurement of digital, television, and film content, providing a complete view of media consumption across different platforms.
3. Advertising analytics: Comscore’s advertising analytics tools help companies and agencies to understand how their ads are performing, allowing them to optimize their campaigns for better results.
4. Customizable: Comscore’s products and services can be tailored to meet the specific needs of different clients, providing a customized solution that fits their unique requirements.

Cons:

1. Cost: Comscore’s products and services can be quite expensive, making them less accessible for smaller companies and organizations.
2. Complexity: The data and insights provided by Comscore can be complex and difficult to interpret, requiring specialized knowledge to fully understand and use.
3. Limited to digital platforms: Comscore’s products and services are limited to measuring digital, television and film content, while other important areas like radio, print, and outdoor are not covered.
4. Limited to specific regions: Comscore’s products and services are limited to certain regions, meaning that they may not be as useful for companies and organizations that operate on a global scale.