ComScore, CMR Partner On Internet Measurement

The Internet measurement arena has seen drastic changes recently. The financial failure of Jupiter Media Metrix led to its acquisition by comScore, a former competitor. Meanwhile, Evaliant, another major player, was acquired by CMR, the leader in traditional media measurement. Both acquisitions took place in June.

ComScore, which maintains a database of over 1.5 million Internet users whose online activities are measured, has pursued a strategy of "forging compelling partnerships," according to vice president Dan Hess, who spoke with MediaDailyNews yesterday after the company made a joint announcement with CMR, one of its partners, about marketing plans for Media Metrix and Evaliant.

The announcement concerns the way comScore and CMR will comarket Media Metrix and Evaliant products. Beginning this fall, comScore will sell and CMR will resell Media Metrix 2.0, a new product that will expand the Media Metrix sample from 60,000 to more than 120,000 Internet users and provide expanded coverage of online buying, transaction behavior and at work Internet use. Meanwhile, CMR will sell and comScore will resell the Evaliant system to clients. The announcement establishes the comarketing relationship of comScore and CMR. "It's a real partnership with tangible products and services and comarketing and codevelopment efforts," Hess says.

The companies will also try to package their products to work together. "Clients want audience measurement data delivered through the same system as ad expenditure data, so they don't have to hop back and forth," Hess says. "So we're integrating comScore Media Metrix data into the Evaliant platform so clients can view and analyze both information sources."

Yesterday's announcement is "the next step following the acquisitions," Hess says. "Each company has independently moved to develop the next generation of services they will offer and we saw the opportunity to bring them together."

The comScore/CMR partnership will likely strengthen Internet measurement because it unites the companies who have provided different kinds of measurement in the past. Bev Andal, president of Evaliant, says, "We track 2500 sites everyday and comScore tracks the ratings side of the business. Working together provides new product opportunities that will improve ad spending methodologies and create opportunities for new online planning capabilities." She also says the companies have different kinds of clients, with Evaliant's strength among agencies and publishers. The partnership "will allow us to integrate our databases," she says.

The comScore/CMR partnership has set up a confrontation with NetRatings, the ACNeilsen company that is the other Internet measurement leader. Sean Kaldor, NetRatings vice president of marketing, wasn't exactly awestruck by comScore/CMR's announcement yesterday.

"Let's see if they can create new value, instead of just selling each other's products," he says. He says past agreements comScore made, such as one with Doubleclick, didn't pan out, so it remains to be seen what happens here.

Next story loading loading..