Why we do not support ComScore

I run a company called AccuScore that has deals with lots of the top sports companies and sites on the web. My company, albeit smaller, is ranked about 7800 according to Quantcast. Is Quantcast reliable? Is Google Analytics reliable? The real question here is are basic web logs the best way to understand traffic?

The relationships at the larger companies I have deals with do not like nor wish to continue supporting ComScore. ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, Fox, SI, you name it, nobody like the way they report traffic and really, nobody believes their metrics are accurate. These large media companies are buying traffic plays through acquisitions, just to aggregate traffic and have a better number to one up the competition. They think they can generate more ad $, but the products on these sites are generally crap, or there is no product, just scantily clad women attracting some sports fans. So the real question is why is everyone paying for it? Advertisers pay. Media publishers pay. And the traffic is reported at least 30% less than actuals. I would challenge any media executive to tell me that is not the case.

So who is getting screwed? PUBLISHERS AND DIGITAL MEDIA. ComScore is lowering the actual reported traffic to sites and therefore allowing advertisers to pay a lower rate than they should be paying for digital integrations, page views, and time on site. This is decreasing the overall ad spend that companies would pay across the Internet and therefore keeping the overall size of the market lower than it should be, with accurate reporting.

Who else is getting screwed? Sites that won’t pay for it that have decent, targeted traffic. The concept of ComScore is like a Country Club, pay to join, pay less to play a round of golf, and play with the same people over and over again to avoid anyone else getting into the game, unless you integrate a network roll up strategy. And who wants to do that right now? (EVERYONE)

What about TV? Nielsen is just as bad but I will save that for when we are officially in over 50% of the american hh and selling national TV spots for my TV show.