• The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, July 15, 2009 1:15 PM

How much does size really matter when it comes to audience measurement? Well, to hear Nielsen or comScore, the Web's largest audience measurement firms, tell it, the answer is a lot. In its most recent press release, Nielsen claims: "Nielsen Launches Largest, Most Representative Online Audience Measurement Panel in U.S." The panel's total: 230,000 Internet users.

Following the release, comScore quickly came out and told The Wall Street Journal that its panel is still larger. Josh Chasin, comScore's chief research officer, said his company's panel now totals 300,000. "They caught up to where we were about six months ago," Chasin said, adding that comScore had increased its panel size by about 75,000 users in recent months.

Nielsen's response to Chasin's claims: we really did think our panel is bigger, but who cares, size isn't everything. "It's always been about quality," said Dave Osborn, a senior vice president of Nielsen Online, adding that Nielsen's panel takes extra steps to ensure "representativeness".

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