DoubleClick Targets Online Measurement Leaders With ComScore Deal
DoubleClick Inc. is gunning for Jupiter Media Metrix and Nielsen//NetRatings.The company wants to "build a better mousetrap" and take on the competition in audience measurement, and it thinks its deal with comScore Networks will help accomplish that, said Doug Knopper, vice president and general manager of DoubleClick Research.
DoubleClick last week announced the partnership with comScore Networks, Reston, VA, a provider of Internet infrastructure services, to create a suite of online audience measurement products. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The first product of the partnership is netScore, a service based on comScore's research panel of more than 1.5 million opt-in names. Knopper said the panel is more than 10 times larger than NetRatings' and Media Metrix's panels combined.
"This allows us to augment our @plan tools," Knopper said. "NetScore allows us to get very detailed information on a site level."
That information includes data such as who is visiting a site, how long they stay and how much money they spend at a site, he said. The service also will enable DoubleClick to offer clients an accurate measure of some segments that have been beyond the reach of measurement firms, such as whether people are visiting a site from home, work or school. It also can track international usage, he said.
"It's a really accurate way to measure some of the segments that have not been covered before," Knopper said.
Larry Chase, publisher of the e-mail newsletter Web Digest for Marketers, called the DoubleClick deal fascinating. The size of comScore's panel alone, he said, makes the deal interesting.
"They'll get some useful data," Chase said. "What they do with it with DoubleClick remains to be seen. It's certainly a deal to watch."
