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    • Soon To Be Worthless: Nielsen Net Ratings and comScore Media Metrix [view article]
      I had the opportunity to read Mr. Ritholtz’s blog “Soon To Be Worthless: Nielsen Net Ratings and comScore Media Metrix” and I wanted to take the opportunity to set the record straight regarding the practice of traffic assignment in our industry. First, I want to fully disclose that I am a comScore employee serving as Executive Vice President in charge of the Media Metrix business. As Mr. Ritholtz points out in his blog, the use of traffic assignment is a very strong practice within our industry and it is for a very good reason. As the Web has become more fragmented, publishers are constantly challenged to deliver more relevant audiences and value to advertisers and marketers. The aggregation of traffic with similar content is one way to accomplish this. But at the end of the day, it comes down to a numbers game where higher reach is more desirable and larger audiences will get an advertisers attention. Perhaps a good illustration is Conversational Media, where individual sites/blogs have small audiences, but in aggregate, the category reaches over half a billion people worldwide, based upon comScore's tracking

      Hundreds of companies employ this practice of traffic assignment to other companies. However, it is important to note that ownership of these sites is in no way impacted nor does the traffic from these sites disappear. Instead, it allows them to be aggregated into a larger roll up that at the end of the day can hold more appeal for a prospective advertiser. The traffic from the individual sites can still be viewed as part of the roll-up assuming it is requested by the aggregator, and the traffic meets minimum sample and reporting standards. In many situations, traffic of assignment can actually benefit a site in terms of visibility within ratings reports and can allow it to further monetize its traffic without having to build up an expensive sales force on its own.

      It is worthwhile to note that traffic of assignment has been within our industry for many years now and in fact has been incorporated into the proposed industry-wide IAB Nomenclature project that has the active involvement and support of leading players within the industry including publishers, advertisers and agencies. Our procedures for accepting traffic assignments are very rigorous. We require consent, a legitimate business purpose, and do not allow the traffic to be assigned multiple times. The latter requirement ensures that the audience represented in the ratings report is not double counted as a result of different publishers claiming assignment to the same site. With these safeguards in place, the notion that traffic is being stolen is simply not true. The fact that Mr. Ritholtz opted to not acquiesce with the three requests he was presented with during the summer validates the rules of full consent and non-duplication. If he did not consent, his traffic will not be credited to anyone but himself assuming his site is large enough to show up in the ratings report.

      From a business and online ad sales perspective, it’s all about delivering audiences to advertisers that allow them to meet their goals and objectives. The aggregation of larger audiences with relevant content whether it is through 100% ownership or traffic assignment, is a legitimate way to make the audience more compelling to buy by marketers and advertisers. At the end of the day, this continues to be a business measured through dollars and cents. And through these practices, stronger online audiences can be created to drive more ad revenue and that is what will help to continue to make the online world go round.
      Oct 12 01:59 PM
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