comScore is a company that provides [[internet traffic]] statistics. == Media Metrix == Media Metrix was first known as PC Meter, which began publishing in 1996. [http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release98.html Yahoo! ranked No. 1 navigational network in April], Yahoo Competitors * [[Alexa Internet]] * [[Hitwise]] * [[Nielsen//NetRatings]] ===================== Mergers and shit ==================================================== http://gale.ecnext.com/coms2/profile-s4st-comScore-Media-Metrix-Inc.html Jupiter Media Metrix Inc. (Name Change) PC Meter Inc. (Name Change) Jupiter Communications (Merger) Media Metrix Inc. (Name Change) http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=1380051 comScore, which acquired Media Metrix early last month, said it plans to double the panel's U.S. sample from 60,000 to 120,000 Internet users during the next four months. As before, members of the enlarged panel -- dubbed Media Metrix 2.0 -- are to be recruited through random digit dialing, or RDD. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-242455.html (June 2000) Media Metrix, Jupiter merge in $414 million deal http://news.com.com/2100-1023_3-933580.html (June 2002) Jupiter sells part of measurement unit http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/10/13/BU94264.DTL (October 1998) The two leading Web audience `ratings'' services, Media Metrix of New York and Atlanta's Relevant Knowledge, announced their merger yesterday. http://banners.noticiasdot.com/termometro/boletines/audiencias/boletines-audiencias-mmx.htm Earliest mention, October 1997? http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release98.html "since PC Meter began publishing results in January 1996." http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HDN/is_1998_Oct_27/ai_53160891 Media Metrix had been known as PC Meter Inc. until July 1997, when it changed its name to its current moniker (Newsbytes, Jul. 21, 1997). http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2165431 July 21, 1997 PC Meter Changes Name, To Resume Public Releases http://web.archive.org/web/20041201145733/www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,5357,00.html Good writeup on the company at that time. http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/99/18/index4a_page10.html?tw=e-business Prior to the Web, conducting nationally representative research was pretty simple. You hired a bunch of people to sit at phones and randomly call a nationwide sample of consumers (a process known as random digit dial phone research). It was simple: It relied on the one thing that nearly every household has, and that's the phone. At the very least, you'd be able to call people at dinner time and force them to take part in your "very important national study." With the Web, it's trickier. You can't exactly solicit the entire Web population at random, and even if you could, it just wouldn't be kosher. One alternative is to continue using the trusty old phone to get a hold of your Web users. But that's very expensive. So that's where panels come in. Smart research companies have come to recognize that it is way too expensive to do some types of research for Web-based clients. What they are doing instead is creating large databases of Web users who agree to be contacted for the purposes of surveys. These Web users initially complete an extensive questionnaire about themselves (e.g., I am a college student; I like rock music; I want to buy a car in the next three years). Research companies can then select samples of Web users with specific characteristics (in our example, Web-using college students) from the existing database and survey them about the topic at hand (online book purchasing). This approach has given Web companies a fighting chance at getting to the right people and asking them the right questions. http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20060504/CGTH06704052006-1.html comScore Networks, today announced the launch of comScore World Metrix, the first true estimate of global online audience size and behavior based on activity from the world's largest online behavioral research panel. The comScore World Metrix panel has active representation from countries that comprise 99 percent of the global Internet population. http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/marketscore/technical.html An Analysis of the New Marketscore Proxy http://cendi.dtic.mil/presentations/KevinGartonApr17.ppt Panel recruitment methodologies: - Random digit dialing - Random direct mail - Multi-channel (?) - Television advertising - ISP partnerships http://chimprawk.blogspot.com/2006/10/perspectives-on-comscore-data.html (unreliable) Comscore relies on users to install an agent that monitors computer use. The methodology assumes that users will sign into their proper accounts - the accounts are tied to demographic information. http://cendi.dtic.mil/presentations/KevinGartonApr17.ppt (possibly unreliable, though it's on a .mil site...) Mentions calibration bits, as well as how users are recruited for marketscore. Lists where they get their data from... 1000 / weekly: RDD 60,000: RDD & RDM 1.5M: web and email http://www.comscore.com/method/method.asp This basically confirms the above... "With more than 2 million participants under continuous measurement" "comScore determines the size and characteristics of the total online population via a continuous survey spanning tens of thousands of persons over the course of a year. The sample of participants in this enumeration survey is selected via RDD methodology." http://www.comscore.com/method/arf.asp http://www.comscore.com/method/arf_cs_review11502.pdf (GOOD find! Very good... although somewhat of a repeat of the above link, it's a reliable source) Describes the calibration / netscore / whatever of the data comScore has recruited for the Marketscore Panel over one and a half million opt-in members who have agreed to have their Internet behavior confidentially monitored and captured on a totally anonymous basis. Among the data saved from online transaction confirmations are billing addresses. comScore is developing a capability to compare those billing addresses to the addresses provided during the registration process. http://news.com.com/ComScore+Spyware+or+researchware/2100-1032_3-5494004.html http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/security/0,39044215,39210245,00.htm (another GOOD find, since it briefly summarizes some of the stuff, in a fairly neutral way) ComScore: Spyware or 'researchware'? "They may be upfront up about it, and you can put the pieces together, but it requires a full understanding of network security and of legalese," said Steven Jay Schuster, security director at Cornell University. "Most people don't really understand all the information that's collected about them on the Internet, and to me it's playing on that." ComScore has a panel of 1.5 million people in the United States who use its software, and by doing so, report their behaviors. With the software, ComScore has built a reputable research business in recent years with less investment than traditional, random digit-dial research panels. Its star has risen since the dot-com bust thanks to the credibility of its large panel size and data. The company sells data to major Internet companies, universities and the media. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7546554/ Sore of an addendum to the above, on April 2005 Several financial institutions have complained about the service, and last month, major banks in New Zealand announced they would no longer do business with consumers who have installed Marketscore. A fraud official for one of Canada's largest banks who asked not to be identified told MSNBC.com that his firm had recently begun to reject all traffic flowing through Marketscore servers. "I think people who download the software don't fully understand how much information is going to be collected," said Larry Ponemon, director of the research firm The Ponemon Institute. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,65906-0.html IMesh, maker of a popular file-sharing application, recently began bundling an application called Marketscore. Some would view Marketscore as a privacy nightmare: The program routes all of a user's web traffic through Marketscore's own servers, where it is then analyzed to "create research reports on internet trends and e-commerce activities," according to Marketscore. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,97936,00.html?source=x73 Columbia University, Cornell University, Indiana University, the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany and Pennsylvania State University are among those noting an increase in the number of systems running Marketscore software in recent weeks. Each institution warned its users about Marketscore and posted instructions for removing the software. http://www.stanford.edu/group/security/securecomputing/2005/01/marketscore_spyware.html Very GOOD summary of Marketscore in general, as well as links to other universities who have sent out warnings. http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=1380051 Secondary sources listing the fact that the larger sample is callibrated with a smaller RDD sample http://www.sigmavalidation.com/tips/05_06_02_Online_Survey_Panels.ppt VERY GOOD. 2005. Lists "3.5 million, 5 million, and 10 million" Panelists are recruited across thousands of sites not used by other panel suppliers and they do not have to be willing to answer surveys to be accepted to the panel comScore is the ONLY panel that can: Truly validate the identity of the respondent. (yeah, no shit) All demographics (including name and address) are verified (yeah, no shit) Contextually pop surveys anywhere on the internet based on actual behavior. (hrm...) http://www.comscore.com/method/tech_compare.asp comScore's detailed transaction measurement doesn't require asking consumers what they bought and for how much -- because that information is captured passively and completely using comScore's proprietary technology. (holy shit... they come right out and say it) ---- how early did comscore exist? ------------- http://www.websidestory.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2001-10-23.html 2001 http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/10/flakey.html 1999 http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=13 comScore Networks was founded in August 1999 by... http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=6 comScore Networks was founded in August 1999 by... ============================ major source ============================ http://www.comscore.com/method/arf.asp http://www.comscore.com/method/arf_cs_review11502.pdf 2001, describes the three factors that go into the reports ============================ Definitions ============================= CONSUMER PANEL A sample of individuals whose purchases, product usage, and or media consumption etc. are recorded over a period. http://www.gfkconsumer.co.uk/glossary.htm household consumers which provide information on their purchases over time http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/he/web_sites/business/marketing/jobber/files/glossary/c.html RANDOM DIGIT DIAL ============================ Post-creation =========================== - redirect [[PC Meter]] to [[comScore]] {{R with possibilities}} - redirect [[Relevant Knowledge]] to [[comScore]] {{R with possibilities}} - redirect [[Media Metrix]] to [[comScore]] {{R with possibilities}} - redirect [[Marketscore]] to [[comScore]] - redirect [[OpinionSquare]] here - redirect [[NetSetter]] here - redirect [[JDCouncil]] here - link [[Marketscore]] from [[Spyware]] - link [[Marketscore]] from [[IMesh]] - link all instances of "media metrix" - link all instances of "comscore" ============================ Questions =============================== - what's their methodology? (what does "random digit dial" mean? especially when they have a panel of people?) - Media Metrix used a different methodology prior to 2002? http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156431 - who are their customers? http://www.online-publishers.org/?pg=supporters Microsoft, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Knight Ridder Digital, Nestle, Wells Fargo & Company, GlaxoSmithKline, and Orbitz - what's netScore?