comScore is looking to unify metrics for viewing across the two major viewing platforms – traditional TV and Internet TV – by bridging the platform gap that has plagued TV networks, content owners, advertisers and Nielsen for the past two years.
comScore this week unveiled its latest measurement service, called XMedia, that will give content owners and advertisers a better idea of viewership across live linear, time-shifted, and OTT platforms and devices. “Now, for the first time, content owners can quantify their entire audience, and agencies and advertisers have access to the cross-platform metrics they need to plan and execute campaigns,” the company said.
The service will measure viewing across PCs, smartphones, TV sets, tablets and streaming media devices such as net tops and game consoles, though comScore didn’t say which devices, specifically, it will be able to measure viewing on, or which streaming video services it includes in its metrics, but it will not use panel-based or census-based measurements.
“This first-ever syndicated measurement solution allows users to create cross-media packages that combine properties from TV and digital to analyze unduplicated, incremental and overlapped audience reach and engagement across platforms.” The company said.
It’s something TV networks and content owners have been clamoring for over past two years or so, as consumers have shifted more and more of their viewing to digital platforms, which Nielsen hasn’t had much success measuring.
“We don’t see digital as a bonus audience anymore, as it is an integral part of how content is consumed today,” said Tom Ziangas, SVP Research at AMC Networks. “However, we currently have an incomplete picture and are not getting credit for consumption that happens on non-linear platforms. comScore Xmedia now gives us this total representation of our audience, allowing us to fully understand and monetize the portion of our audience that has not previously been measured.”
comScore has partnered with UK-based video measuring firm Kantar to expand the Xmedia metrics across the globe.
This first ran in Rider Research’s Online Reporter