comScore Launches Video Metrix 2.0 to Measure Evolving Web Video Landscape

*Next Generation Online Video Measurement Service Features Video Ad Reporting*  

*New Metrics Enable Cross-Media Comparability and Help Improve Monetization of the Online Video Medium* 

RESTON, VA, July 15, 2010 – comScore, Inc. a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the introduction of Video Metrix 2.0, the next generation of comScore’s industry leading online video measurement service.

The new service offers several enhancements – including reporting of online video ad impressions – designed to better align with the realities of today’s online video landscape. For more information on Video Metrix 2.0, please visit www.videometrix2.com.  

“Online video has evolved in recent years from a medium delivering primarily user-generated content to a channel that now delivers a great deal of professionally produced long-form content that is identical to what a viewer would find on TV,” said Tania Yuki, comScore senior director of video and cross-media products.

“Consequently, more attention is rightfully being given to the monetization of the online video medium, particularly as it relates to the existing TV landscape. comScore recognized that it was time to revisit our measurement of this space in order to provide the information being demanded by media planners as content increasingly moves towards digital formats.” 

Enhancements to the service include:

• The ability to filter video viewing activity between ads and content
• TV show-level reporting for major broadcast sites (top online TV shows for ABC.com, NBC.com and CBS.com in June can be found here: https://blog.comscore.com/2010/07/comscore_enhances_online_video.html)
• Additional reporting metrics, including average daily unique viewers, viewing sessions, percentage of ads by videos viewed, percentage of ads by time spent viewing video, ads per content video, content minutes per ad minute
• Ranking of video ad networks by actual reach of ads delivered (as opposed to only the potential reach of the network)
• Recalibration of estimates of unique viewers as a result of improved data collection methods
• In addition, comScore plans to introduce an updated Gross Rating Point (GRP) metric in the coming months to further enable cross-media comparability with TV. Video ads and content reporting capabilities are still under development in Video Metrix markets outside the U.S., but the other reported enhancements will be available in these markets with the June data release.

Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers: 

More than 177 million U.S. Internet users watched video content in June. Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top video content property with 144.5 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites (44.9 million viewers) and Vevo (43.7 million viewers).

Google Sites had the highest number of overall viewing sessions with 1.8 billion and average time spent per viewer at 261 minutes, or 4.3 hours. Hulu also had high viewer engagement with an average of 135 minutes (or 2.2 hours) per viewer. 

Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed: 

Americans viewed more than 4.3 billion video ads in June, with Hulu generating the highest number of ad views at 566 million. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (and highest among video ad networks) with 524 million ad views, followed by BrightRoll Video Network (333 million) and Microsoft Sites (222 million).

Video ads reached 45 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 31.5 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 24.2 over the course of the month.  

*Indicates video ad network/server Other notable findings from June 2010 include:

• The top video ad networks in terms of their potential reach were: ScanScout Network with 43.7 percent reach of the total U.S. population, BrightRoll Video Network with 40.6 percent, and Break Media Network with 36.8 percent.
• 84.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• The duration of the average online content video was 4.9 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
• Video ads accounted for 12.2 percent of all videos viewed but only 1.2 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

 Source: comScore