• by Laurie Petersen , July 9, 2007

Internet ratings site Quantcast has added video and widget measurement services to capitalize on the rapid proliferation of both.

The new capabilities, available now in beta at www.quantcast.com, can report on all Flash-based media, including videos and online games as well as Web-based and downloaded desktop widgets.

Publishers can measure the use of videos and widgets on their Web sites as well as their viral proliferation to other sites.

"If they want to attract more advertising dollars, publishers must measure and understand their video and widget audiences," said Konrad Feldman, co-founder and CEO, Quantcast Corp.

The beta version released today reports on plays, reach, amount consumed and category. The complete offering will also provide frequency and distribution, as well as demographics and lifestyle assessments based on Quantcast's algorithm.

Mochi Media, a casual gaming network; PictureTrail and MetaCafe are among early beta participants.

The new free services are available to any Web publishers that join Quantcast's free Qualified Publisher Program. Participants are tracked by embedding Quantcast code.

More than 7,500 Web sites are active Quantcast participants, according to Feldman. The company makes its money by matching audiences with advertisers.

Feldman said publishers are seeing that significant widget distribution does drive traffic to their Web sites. When Facebook opened its platform to outside developers, effects were dramatic. Particularly popular widget categories are photo sharing and casual gaming, he said.