4 ms·

Why We Should Boycott ComScore

64 points by dchest 17y ago

thafman 17y ago
In the bad old days as a Media Buyer for a large-ish brand I tended to get amazing results by looking up a site that had paid CommScore and then fining their direct competitors who had not, and buying spots for 30-50% less for what was essentially the same inventory. Good times.
- snowbird122 17y ago
  How could you tell who paid and who didn't?
  - sabat 17y ago
    Presumably, one could tell by looking for competitors with "lower" comscores.
  - thafman 17y ago
    I won't (really really shouldn't) go into specifics, but it was pretty darn easy to tell.
dnsworks 17y ago
I think this is the first calacanis note I've read that didn't mention his Tesla.
- jasonmcalacanis 17y ago
  editing it in now. :-)
ecaron 17y ago
One of their funniest pieces of "buy your way into being adored by the press" is their reporting on the job search industry - http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/1/Job_Search_Fastest_Growing http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/1/J.... But looking at Compete.com (http://siteanalytics.compete.com/careerbuilder.com+monster.com/ http://siteanalytics.compete.com/careerbuilder.com+monster.c...), these numbers show they're heavily inflated for those on the list, and ignore some of the bigger new-comers (like JuJu).
reidman 17y ago
Does it strike anyone else as petulant, childish, or vaguely illegal that he's prodding people to short their stock? I can never take this guy seriously, even when I want to.
- jasonmcalacanis 17y ago
  it was a sort of a joke... I don't think anyone takes me seriously when it comes to the stock market--especially after I say I don't own any stocks! :-)
  - vaksel 17y ago
    who knows, they are mostly institutionally owned, a single guy at Fidelity agreeing with you, and their stock can tumble
Multiplayer 17y ago
Back in the "old days" you had, in my opinion, even worse issues with Media Metrix and Nielsen. They were the real gangsters - and it was really expensive. Comscore was the new kid on the block and tried harder to get good data out there. I don't recall any extortion from them. When someone is running a business I think it's a good idea to focus on the business and not on various crusades. Whenever I see someone behaving like this I'm glad I'm not an investor with them. Watch what happens with Mahalo - all these shenanigans and the ceo's focus on angel investing tell me that the level of his interest in his startup isn't all that great. Or he's magically talented and can do it all while building a great business.
- dasil003 17y ago
  Calacanis rubs me the wrong a lot of the time, but I disagree with your assessment. All else being equal, yes, personal crusades are a distraction, but he's only human. The type of commitment necessary to succeed in a startup isn't necessarily 80 hours a week with a laser focus. It's hard enough to keep most people focused for a solid 40 hours a week. And also, it's very easy to appear totally dedicated but actually be mentally spinning your wheels and not performing well for a variety of reasons. I mean, you maybe right, but I just think it's hard to judge by looking at outside indicators like what someone rants about.
covercash 17y ago
TechCrunch just posted a story with the responses from Fred Wilson and Comcsore's CMO Linda Abraham. Check it out here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/24/comscore-calcanis-wilson-punch-face/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/24/comscore-calcanis-wilso...
- dchest 17y ago
  I don't take any sides yet, as I don't know much about analytics business, but the first part of Linda's reply is confusing. She talks about how they measure people vs cookies, but: 1) when you're comparing websites, does it make any difference if an analytics system measures "people" (which is impossible to do precisely) vs "cookies" or unique IPs? In my opinion, the latter is better for comparison, because it's more precise. 2) she didn't address the following point: "The only problem was that Comscore's numbers were different than the SiteMeter traffic that Gawker and Weblogs Inc. were publishing at the time." What is the reason for the difference between SiteMeter stats (unique IPs and cookies) and "people" as measured by Comscore?
axod 17y ago
quantcast are the only ones who have a directly measured system afaik. After quantcast I usually trust alexa the most. Comscore and compete numbers are just random stupidity.

64 points by dchest 17y ago

In the bad old days as a Media Buyer for a large-ish brand I tended to get amazing results by looking up a site that had paid CommScore and then fining their direct competitors who had not, and buying spots for 30-50% less for what was essentially the same inventory. Good times.

snowbird122 17y ago
How could you tell who paid and who didn't?
- sabat 17y ago
  Presumably, one could tell by looking for competitors with "lower" comscores.
- thafman 17y ago
  I won't (really really shouldn't) go into specifics, but it was pretty darn easy to tell.

dnsworks 17y ago

I think this is the first calacanis note I've read that didn't mention his Tesla.

jasonmcalacanis 17y ago
editing it in now. :-)

ecaron 17y ago

One of their funniest pieces of "buy your way into being adored by the press" is their reporting on the job search industry - http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/1/Job_Search_Fastest_Growing http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/1/J.... But looking at Compete.com (http://siteanalytics.compete.com/careerbuilder.com+monster.com/ http://siteanalytics.compete.com/careerbuilder.com+monster.c...), these numbers show they're heavily inflated for those on the list, and ignore some of the bigger new-comers (like JuJu).

reidman 17y ago

Does it strike anyone else as petulant, childish, or vaguely illegal that he's prodding people to short their stock? I can never take this guy seriously, even when I want to.

jasonmcalacanis 17y ago
it was a sort of a joke... I don't think anyone takes me seriously when it comes to the stock market--especially after I say I don't own any stocks! :-)
- vaksel 17y ago
  who knows, they are mostly institutionally owned, a single guy at Fidelity agreeing with you, and their stock can tumble

Multiplayer 17y ago

Back in the "old days" you had, in my opinion, even worse issues with Media Metrix and Nielsen. They were the real gangsters - and it was really expensive. Comscore was the new kid on the block and tried harder to get good data out there. I don't recall any extortion from them. When someone is running a business I think it's a good idea to focus on the business and not on various crusades. Whenever I see someone behaving like this I'm glad I'm not an investor with them. Watch what happens with Mahalo - all these shenanigans and the ceo's focus on angel investing tell me that the level of his interest in his startup isn't all that great. Or he's magically talented and can do it all while building a great business.

dasil003 17y ago
Calacanis rubs me the wrong a lot of the time, but I disagree with your assessment. All else being equal, yes, personal crusades are a distraction, but he's only human. The type of commitment necessary to succeed in a startup isn't necessarily 80 hours a week with a laser focus. It's hard enough to keep most people focused for a solid 40 hours a week. And also, it's very easy to appear totally dedicated but actually be mentally spinning your wheels and not performing well for a variety of reasons. I mean, you maybe right, but I just think it's hard to judge by looking at outside indicators like what someone rants about.

covercash 17y ago

TechCrunch just posted a story with the responses from Fred Wilson and Comcsore's CMO Linda Abraham. Check it out here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/24/comscore-calcanis-wilson-punch-face/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/24/comscore-calcanis-wilso...

dchest 17y ago
I don't take any sides yet, as I don't know much about analytics business, but the first part of Linda's reply is confusing. She talks about how they measure people vs cookies, but: 1) when you're comparing websites, does it make any difference if an analytics system measures "people" (which is impossible to do precisely) vs "cookies" or unique IPs? In my opinion, the latter is better for comparison, because it's more precise. 2) she didn't address the following point: "The only problem was that Comscore's numbers were different than the SiteMeter traffic that Gawker and Weblogs Inc. were publishing at the time." What is the reason for the difference between SiteMeter stats (unique IPs and cookies) and "people" as measured by Comscore?

axod 17y ago

quantcast are the only ones who have a directly measured system afaik. After quantcast I usually trust alexa the most. Comscore and compete numbers are just random stupidity.