comScore Networks has published an open letter to the interactive industry in response to a recent article published by Ad Week that covered how some publishers question the accuracy of metrics from companies such as Nielsen//NetRatings and comScore.
The letter, written by comScore President and CEO Magid Abraham, PhD, addresses the challenges faced in web analytics.
"When you scrutinize the details, the answer to the question about why web log and panel-based data don't always match up is…'it depends.' In fact, the reasons for discrepancies depend on a number of factors: the panel data could be wrong, the web log data could be wrong -- or more often -- they are both right given the exact definition of what they measure. But, those definitions could be vastly different," Abraham writes.
Abraham acknowledged other challenging factors such as how multiple frames in one page can result in multiple hits.
The Ad Week article also said that some publishers "contend that both [Nielsen and comScore] companies' panel recruitment efforts have suffered, perhaps due to budget cuts."
comScore responded "The concern about panel quality suffering from cost reductions is just not warranted as far as comScore is concerned. We have never felt better about the size and quality of our panel as we do today."
comScore also stated that they believe "transparency must go both ways" with publishers disclosing what metrics they are using and how they are calculated.
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