Comscore recruited a large panel of internet users who agreed to let it track their browsing. It sold the resulting data to websites, advertisers and investors. Its monthly rankings of the most visited sites became a standard reference, and its data fed investor research on internet companies. In 2007 online advertising was growing fast. Buyers wanted numbers they could trust.

Watching the Panel Shop

Gian Fulgoni and Magid Abraham, veterans of the market research firm Information Resources, founded Comscore in 1999. Their bet was that the internet needed a ratings system like television had, built on much richer data about behavior. They built the panel first and then sold subscriptions to the reports. The panel showed Comscore more than traffic. It saw what people bought and searched for.

Delisted, Then Back

Comscore priced its IPO at $16.50 a share in June 2007 on the Nasdaq. In 2016 it merged with Rentrak to measure television too. Accounting problems led to its delisting in 2018 and a restatement. It later returned to the Nasdaq, where it still trades. Its business now centers on measuring audiences across television, streaming and digital media, for advertisers and the media companies that sell to them.

Cover: Untitled (Surveyor), Unknown. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a surveyor (measurement).