ComScore knows as much about what people do on the Web as anybody in the business. Plus, it compiles data on nearly every big publisher with a recognizable URL. Theoretically, the company could make a killing selling that data on an exchange, to an ad network or even directly to an advertiser. But it’s not going there, ever.
“We get a call a least once a week,” said ComScore CEO and president Dr. Magid Abraham. “But we’ll never do it.”
Why not? Other companies in the analytics and measurement space, like say Quantcast or TubeMogul, have shifted to becoming ad sellers in some form or another.
“No,” said Abraham. “If we do that, there goes our third-party nature. There goes our objectivity. We need to stay neutral. We want to facilitate ad buying and selling, but we’ll never take a side.”
More in Media
WTF is headless browsing, and how are AI agents fueling it?
AI agents are putting headless browsing back in the spotlight. For media companies, that raises questions: How much traffic is real vs. automated?
How People Inc. is prioritizing traffic and revenue diversification to prepare for AI era
People Inc is preparing for AI’s impact on search and content discovery by focusing on traffic and revenue diversification and direct to consumer relationships.
One year in, Business Insider’s AI onsite search is boosting engagement
Although Business Insider’s AI search tool is currently only used by roughly one percent of Business Insider’s readership, it has significantly increased the engagement of those who do use the tool, with click-through to articles increasing by 50 percent since October.