Comscore Sides With Nielsen, Supports MRC Accreditation

Hours after Nielsen issued a notice to clients Thursday reaffirming its support of Media Rating Council (MRC), it received its own endorsement from a strange bedfellow: Rival audience measurement service Comscore.

“Comscore joins with Nielsen in support of MRC accreditation and their call for greater trust and transparency in the selling process and for currency that is informed by big data. Comscore is aligned with the belief that currency used by the industry should be audited and ultimately accredited as being in compliance with MRC standards and that is why Comscore has committed to that process and is well along in working with the MRC for accreditation, a decision on which we hope to receive in the near future," reads Comscore's statement, which was issued just before OpenAP's and the VAB's "joint industry committee (JIC) begins its upfront-style pitch on its ad currency certification plans to the ad industry in New York City Thursday afternoon.

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Comscore's MRC endorsement comes despite the fact that it currently is not accredited by the MRC, although it currently is in the auditing process in hopes of receiving accreditation in the future.

The MRC also recently removed accreditation for Comscore's legacy digital media measurement service Media Metrix, although that service also is currently under MRC review.

As part of this morning's statement, Nielsen also effectively downgraded a plan to introduce its unaccredited hybrid Big Data/panel-based Nielsen One service as an industry "currency" this fall and stick with its MRC accredited national ratings panel service -- for now.

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