comScore Sends Clients First Cross-Platform Ratings

comScore said it has sent the first batch of its cross-platform video ratings to clients.

The company, which acquired Rentrak earlier this year and is looking to challenge Nielsen in the TV audience measurement business, said the ratings are based on fully integrated panel and census-based data sets and span linear TV, time-shifted TV, video-on-demand and digital viewing.

The ratings data goes back to Sept. 24 and is based on 37 million TVs for linear viewing, 117 million TVs for VOD and digital data.

The results are being shared with clients on a monthly basis while they get adjusted and comment on the data.

comScore plans to introduce a syndicated cross-platform measurement product in the fall.

"People are consuming content in smaller and smaller slices, and our clients want to know every opportunity they have to reach those individuals regardless of where, when and how they're watching," said Caroline Horner, senior VP at comScore. "By producing cross-platform ratings based on massive sample sizes and the de-duplicated audience metrics that media planners need, we're now able to deliver insights to the market that are far more granular than what has been provided to-date by existing measurement services."

"We will continue to evolve the offering on our way to a syndicated release of the product this coming fall, but we believe our clients already have much to be excited about from the progress to-date," Horner added.

Both comScore and Nielsen have promised to produce syndicated cross-platform measurement products this year. Nielsen media company clients are currently reviewing ratings data from Nielsen. Some data has also been shared with media buying clients.

"It's great to see the newly merged comScore move rapidly in this direction, and I look forward to seeing their preliminary data," said Colleen Fahey Rush, executive VP and chief research officer at Viacom.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.