comScore Announces Breakthrough Service for Measurement of Online Advertising

comScore Announces Breakthrough Service for Measurement of Online Advertising

PR Newswire via NewsEdge Corporation :

RESTON, Va., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the introduction of comScore Ad Metrix Publisher, a new service that provides critical insight into the online advertising landscape by reporting where display ads are actually viewed across the Internet and the characteristics of the people who are exposed to them. Ad Metrix Publisher captures all types of display advertising, including static and rich media/interactive ads, for the U.S. market.

"comScore Ad Metrix Publisher, the inaugural service from our Ad Metrix product suite, is the first online advertising measurement service to accurately account for the number of ads displayed and tie those views to actual Web users," said Alistair Sutcliffe, vice president of comScore Advertising Solutions. "Understanding the reach, frequency and audience composition for an online advertising plan is vital information for any media planner. Ad Metrix provides the tools for optimizing the placement of online ad dollars, thereby fulfilling the promise of the Internet to deliver greater media accountability."

comScore Ad Metrix Publisher reports on:
-- Ad impressions and reach for sites with display advertising
-- Who is reached with these impressions via reach/frequency and GRP
reporting for individual sites
-- How impression and share trends change over time

comScore Study Shows Differences in Ad Views by Demographic Across Competitive Sports Sites

To illustrate the impact of understanding who's viewing online ads, comScore utilized the Ad Metrix Publisher service to analyze the share of display ads viewed by various demographics across three competitive sports sites: ESPN, Fox Sports on MSN, and Yahoo! Sports. The results of the study revealed several notable differences among the sites.

Competitive Display Ad Demographic Analysis for Selected Sports Sites
June 2007
Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Ad Metrix Publisher

Demographics Percent Composition of Display Ads
ESPN FOX Sports Yahoo!
on MSN Sports
Total Audience 100.0 100.0 100.0
Gender
All Males 65.3 65.8 63.2
All Females 34.7 34.2 36.8
Age
Persons: 12-17 5.5 5.2 6.3
Persons: 18-24 14.5 8.6 14.3
Persons: 25-34 19.4 16.3 22.2
Persons: 35-44 28.6 26.6 20.2
Persons: 45-54 19.4 27.2 19.5
Persons: 55-64 6.3 9.0 10.3
Persons: 65+ 3.3 3.5 4.2
Household Income
Under $25K 8.1 6.4 8.6
$25,000 - $39,999 5.9 8.0 10.4
$40,000 - $59,999 19.8 31.7 25.1
$60,000 - $74,999 11.2 10.7 9.8
$75,000 - $99,999 20.4 16.4 15.5
$100,000 or more 34.7 26.8 30.7

While the three sites had similar ratios of males to females viewing display ads on the sites, they exhibited different skews by age and household income. Display ads on ESPN reached the highest share of people age 35-44 (28.6 percent) and households with an income of at least $100,000 (34.7 percent). Display ads on Fox Sports on MSN skewed heavily towards people age 45 and older (39.7 percent) and households earning between $40,000-$59,999 (31.7 percent). Meanwhile, Yahoo! Sports fared the best at capturing the 18-34 year old demographic, with 36.5 percent of its ads reaching people in that age group.

Demographic Drilldown: 18-34 Year Olds
June 2007
Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Ad Metrix Publisher

18-34 Year Olds ESPN FOX Sports Yahoo! Total
on MSN Sports
Share (%) of Display Ad Views 24.8 21.7 53.5 100.0
Ad Exposed Reach (%) 9.6 8.7 9.8 -
Number of Ad Views Delivered 47 46 100 -
Per Person

A deeper dive into the 18-34 year old demographic revealed that Yahoo! Sports delivered the most ads to this demographic, capturing the highest share among the three sites (53.5 percent). Although advertising for all three sites reached a similar percentage of viewers within this segment, Yahoo Sports delivered about twice as many ad views.

"Media planners want to feel confident that they're reaching their target market when they spend their online ad dollars, and Ad Metrix Publisher enables them to do so," continued Mr. Sutcliffe. "For example, a credit card company that wants to run a campaign targeted to a younger audience on a major sports site can look at this information and make much more precise decisions around the reach and frequency of that campaign, and ultimately the ROI. The availability of detailed ad data by demographic for competitive sites ensures that online ad placement can be optimized."

For more information on the comScore Ad Metrix Publisher, please visit: http://www.comscore.com/contact

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by more than 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com

SOURCE comScore, Inc.