New technologies call for new methodologies to make sense of data. Nielsen and comScore do not list every website under the sun, and sales folks almost universally agree to disagree on their numbers. (Even The New York Times knows that.) That is to say that many new sites and services are misrepresented or not represented at all in the traditional analytics services. I have yet to see either service compile a coherent list of the top video-streaming sites. Case in point: Nielsen's release of the Top Movie and Video Online Destinations. First of all, why is Blockbuster in the same list as YouTube? Both have to do with video, but only one is a viewing destination. Also, glaring omissions from the list: Metacafe and DailyMotion, whose U.S. traffic should put them in the middle of the pack.

If you are strapped for time and need to do a quick evaluation of whether a website gets significant traffic, check out Alexa, Compete or Quantcast. They are free, easy to use and are considered staples of the tech innovation community.

Nielsen and comScore are struggling as it is to catch metrics and data analysis up to rapid video technology innovation. ComScore released its first Widget Metrics Report last June, and widget experts will tell you it's not even close to up to par, which is understandable -- a lot of emerging technologies and services don't fit into boxes, and many of them are not even limited to a specific URL. For example, comScore can tell you how many visitors Veoh.com gets but won't immediately tell you how many people are using VeohTV, the popular software app. Tracking video streams is a brand new endeavor for both companies, so let's get comfortable with the lack of clarity.