Nielsen claims comScore’s rival online currency is “unstable”

Nielsen has debunked comScore’s attempt to rival the new UKOM/Nielsen partnership.

Last week, comScore submitted its own online currency proposal to ABCe, which differs from the UKOM/Nielsen audience planning system because it uses both panel centric metrics and server measurement, which takes into account cookie deletion rates.

comScore said it plans to use this hybrid technique to “arrive at an industry agreed-upon standard for the measurement of unique visitors.”

However, Nielsen has been quick to criticise comScore’s proposed method, claiming that “cookie deletion is unstable”.

The rival measurement company has released a statement outlining the problems with hybrid measurement, which it claims to have looked into and experimented with “back in 2005”.

Louise Ainsworth, managing director of EMEA, Nielsen’s online division, said the data is “unstable” and “varies”, adding that “adjustments  to panel audience numbers can make comparability between media impossible” and that the system is “highly complex to administer”.

However, the statement goes on to say that Nielsen has worked to “develop and successfully implement a hybrid methodology to tackle these challenges” and that the company plans to release its “next generation” system in other markets outside of the UK next year.

Nielsen also backed UKOM’s decision to opt for a panel-based approach “because of its simplicity and ease of measurement of many sites” but said its new system will allow for the future addition of hybrid measurement “if the industry chooses to take this route”.