• by Wayne Friedman , March 4, 2021

Preliminary 2020 financial results show Comscore has significantly narrowed its losses in the last three months of the year and for the year overall.

The media measurement company had a 2020 yearly net loss of $47.9 million, compared to $339 million in 2019. In the fourth quarter it was $13.2 million versus $21.4 million in the last three months of 2019.

Still, Comscore witnessed lower revenues -- down 8% for the year to $356 million and off 6% for the fourth quarter to $90 million.

Bill Livek, CEO-executive vice chairman of Comscore, says the company continues to see improvements in many business areas, although he declined to provide specifics.

Comscore will offer up more detailed fourth-quarter and 2020 financial results on Wednesday, March 10.

Earlier this year, Comscore secured investment deals from Charter Communications, the cable and broadband company, and Qurate Retail and Cerberus Capital Management -- companies with ecommerce and loyalty shopper data businesses, respectively.

Financing from these investments will raise $204 million. The goal is to pay down long-term debt, which at the end of 2019 stood at $199.1 million.

As part of the deal with Charter, it will provide data to Comscore so the firm can achieve "more granular consumer-level data sets." At the same time, Charter will treat Comscore as its "preferred local measurement partner."

In addition, Comscore announced an extended deal to provide data to another large cable TV and broadband company, Comcast Cable Communications.

Comcast will be completing these investment transactions following a stockholder vote on March 9.

Media holding company WPP Group remains a key longtime investor.

More recently, Comscore extended an agreement with Omnicom Group, another media holding company, to provide ecommerce and audience behavioral data to Omni, the media group’s marketing operating system that backs Omnicom agencies.

In 2019, the SEC charged Comscore and its former CEO Serge Matta with engaging in a fraudulent scheme to overstate revenue by $50 million and by making false and misleading statements about its performance.