Omniture and ComScore, two Web-tracking powerhouses, are combining forces to launch a new system for measuring online audiences, the companies said Monday.
Teasing out online traffic figures has been a constant challenge for both advertisers and publishers. The two companies' goal is better analyze online audiences by teaming Omniture's reliance on Web site analytics with ComScore's approach of following patterns of Internet users.
Web sites tend to rely on either analytics or audience measurement to determine traffic patterns, which can often lead to conflicting results. By merging the two methods, Omniture and ComScore hope to give customers a more unified and more accurate view.
"Since the rise of digital advertising, advertisers and publishers alike have sought ways to reconcile their Web analytics and panel-based measurement data to establish a unified measure of online audiences," Omniture CEO Josh James said in a statement. "With this relationship, Omniture and ComScore will enable publishers who have rich, highly targeted audience segments to reliably demonstrate their value to advertisers and also help advertisers find these attractive consumer segments."
ComScore's new Media Metrix 360 system will play a leading role in the service. Launched in June, Media Metrix 360 already uses a hybrid approach, supplementing audience measurement with Web site analytics. The company had been criticized in the past for relying on too small a segment of the online audience to provide accurate data on traffic patterns.
Through this partnership, ComScore will also be working with Adobe Systems, which last week signed an agreement to acquire Omniture for $1.8 billion.