comScore Introduces Free Viewability Measurement to Broaden Trust Across Global Digital Advertising Market

RESTON, Va., April 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore today announced that it will offer free viewability measurement to clients across global markets. comScore Viewability is a baseline offering that allows digital media buyers and sellers to measure viewability rates across display, video, and mobile inventory. This initiative promotes trust and transparency in digital advertising and improves cross-media comparability.

Viewability is an increasingly expected part of advertising verification, but can consume measurement budgets and displace other important campaign metrics. As a result, ad effectiveness is often gauged by viewability metrics alone, even though these speak only to whether or not an ad impression is seen and not whether it made an impact.

By enabling media buyers and sellers to measure viewability at no cost, comScore Viewability increases clients' ability to focus on deeper performance metrics, such as reach within geographic and demographic targets and lift in brand awareness, purchase intent, visitation or product sales.

"Viewability is critical, but for too long it has dominated industry discussion at the expense of other metrics that also really matter," said Dan Hess, executive vice president of products at comScore. "We think it's time to make viewability a table stake for digital advertising, and move the market forward to a broader realm of more meaningful ad measurement across platforms."

comScore Viewability becomes available globally this summer as a free, self-service offering with baseline reporting metrics, delivered through a fully redesigned user interface.

What the Industry is Saying

"In order to create a total video marketplace where buyers can plan across platforms to achieve advertising goals, viewability is key to leveling the playing field between digital and TV. This new viewability solution will help expand access and use of viewability measures, allowing the industry to turn its focus back to making sure that ads have an impact."

Lyle Schwartz, president of investment, North America, GroupM

"IAB applauds comScore providing critical support for the digital ad industry's viewability standard. It is critical that this industry stop wasting time on unproductive arguments about baseline standards and start investing time on what really matters – the strategies, ideas, and executions that move hearts, minds, and wallets. The MRC standard for viewable impressions was agreed to and has evolved under consistent cross-industry participation. It's time for the entire marketing-media ecosystem to accept it and move on to more productive innovations, including agreement on how to measure cross-media audiences and engagement."

Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)

"Establishing viewability as a baseline standard is critical to the evolution of digital advertising – it further helps bridge the measurement gap between digital and TV. By better aligning advertising across all platforms, advertisers can turn their attention back to meaningful KPIs, such as reach and frequency."

Alison Fennah, executive business advisor, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe

"Offering free viewability measurement will allow for more comprehensive reporting and help to close the gaps where viewability is not currently reported  - thus getting us one step closer to our industry goal of making digital measurement comparable to that of other media."

Nancy Hill, president and CEO, American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As)

"Giving the market broad access to viewability metrics is a critical step in moving digital advertising forward. We applaud comScore for taking this step to bring greater trust and transparency to the industry, and working to level the playing field between digital and TV advertising."

Blaise D'Sylva, vice president of media at Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

"AOL is committed to helping advertisers and publishers build brands people love and action on real metrics across screens. For the digital advertising industry to accomplish these goals, we undoubtedly need greater transparency and trust in the marketplace. We're encouraged to see comScore taking steps to enhance that transparency by opening up viewability to all. This initiative offers clients greater control and drives more dollars to digital."

Tim Mahlman, president, AOL Platforms

"Viewability has become a standard on which digital advertising is bought and sold. At Yahoo, we're committed to providing marketers with an open environment where they have full transparency and control in measuring viewability for display, video and native advertising. We applaud comScore for taking the initiative to make viewability measurement available for free on its platform. It's an important step forward for the industry, and it will help build advertiser confidence in ensuring ROI, brand safety and ad effectiveness."

Tom Schmidt, vice president of advertising products, Yahoo

"We're glad to see comScore's efforts to bring more transparency and accountability to digital advertising. By making viewability measurement accessible for all, our publisher community can better demonstrate the real value that they bring to media buyers and their brands."

Kirk McDonald, president, PubMatic

Learn More About comScore Viewability

This offering uses the same measurement tag and technology as comScore validated Campaign Essentials™ (vCE®), which means the metrics provided in comScore Viewability will align with vCE-reported data. vCE is accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for viewability for display and video impressions in desktop and mobile environments, and includes filtering of both general and sophisticated invalid traffic (IVT). comScore Viewability is not accredited at this time. 

To receive updates about comScore Viewability and learn more about this product, which will be available later this summer, please click here.

Publishers and app developers who want to ensure they have the latest comScore code installed to support this upcoming product launch, please click here.

About comScore
comScore is a leading cross-platform measurement company that measures audiences, brands and consumer behavior everywhere. comScore completed its merger with Rentrak Corporation in January 2016, to create the new model for a dynamic, cross-platform world. Built on precision and innovation, our data footprint combines proprietary digital, TV and movie intelligence with vast demographic details to quantify consumers' multiscreen behavior at massive scale. This approach helps media companies monetize their complete audiences and allows marketers to reach these audiences more effectively. With more than 3,200 clients and global footprint in more than 75 countries, comScore is delivering the future of measurement. Shares of comScore stock are currently traded on the OTC Market (OTC:SCOR). For more information on comScore, please visit comscore.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, comScore's expectations as to the financial and operational effects of comScore Viewability, validated Campaign Essentials™ (vCE®) and comScore's entire suite of advertising products. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, comScore's ability to project the financial impact of the partnership or comScore's ability to achieve its expected financial and operational results.

For additional discussion of risk factors, please refer to comScore's respective Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other filings that comScore makes from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which are available on the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov).

Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date such statements are made. comScore does not intend or undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or new information after the date of this press release, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE comScore

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