In an important development for programmers looking to boost revenue from digital video consumption, comScore announced that it would be working with the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement to expand its cross-platform measurement service.
The service is designed to provide unified national measurement of media usage across TV, radio, desktop, smartphone and tablet.
Programmers have wanted better cross-platform measurement because currently it is difficult for them to monetize viewing on smartphones and tablets, which are not measured by Nielsen.
“In teaming with CIMM and our other collaborators, we look forward to expanding our cross-platform measurement service to help solve the media industry’s foremost challenge of measuring audiences for content and advertising in today’s multi-platform world,” said Serge Matta, president of comScore in a statement. “The expansion of this service seeks to address some of the more important challenges, such as multi-platform ad exposure and measurement of mobile video and time-shifted video. With accurate accounting of media consumption at a granular level across all the major media platforms, brands will now have the opportunity to understand their audiences in a more holistic fashion.”
The announcement builds on the Project Blueprint effort, which involved comScore, Arbitron and ESPN and produced early cross platform data last year.
“CIMM played an early role in funding and conducting cross-platform research, which ultimately brought comScore, Arbitron and ESPN together to collaborate on a successful five-platform measurement service, Blueprint,” noted Jane Clarke, managing director, CIMM in a statement. “Now, CIMM is eager to bring other CIMM member companies together to work with comScore to determine the feasibility of syndicating the service industry-wide.”
In the next phase, the cross-platform measurement will be improved to include multi-platform advertising, mobile video, time-shifted viewing and children’s viewing, which were not offered in the initial Project Blueprint effort.
The announcement noted that participating CIMM member companies in the new platform include ESPN, Disney ABC Television Group, Fox Broadcasting Co., NBC Universal, CBS Corporation, A&E Networks, Turner Broadcasting System Inc., Univision Communications Inc., Viacom, Publicis Groupe, GroupM, and Omnicom Media Group, among others.
“We always knew that solving the multi-platform measurement challenge would not be easy but that it was well worth pursuing,” added Alan Wurtzel, president of research and media development at NBCUniversal in a statement. “It’s clear that the innovative approaches undertaken so far have made significant strides in addressing these challenges, and we look forward to participating in the next phase of this research to gain a better understanding of cross-platform audiences and advertising exposure.”
