MRC Revokes Accreditation for Comscore's Media Metrix

In the US, the Media Rating Council (MRC) has 'formally revoked' accreditation of Comscore's Media Metrix (MMX) desktop digital audience measurement service, a year after putting it on 'hiatus'.

MMX is based on comScore's Unified Digital Measurement methodology, which combines panel-based audience measurement with census-level data, to provide what it says is a 'complete' view of the consumption habits of web site audiences, along with demographics and cross-visitation information. The solution was first MRC accredited in 2016 for digital desktop / laptop audiences.

In April last year, the service entered an MRC accreditation hiatus period, with the expectation that Comscore would re-engage in the process within twelve months. Accreditation hiatus is a formal MRC status in which a service is allowed to temporarily step away from audits for up to two consecutive six-month periods, to permit certain actions or service improvements to be implemented outside the normal audit and accreditation process. The service does not maintain accreditation during a hiatus period.

Comscore recently informed MRC and its Digital Committee that it would not be ready to resume an accreditation audit for the MMX service within the period required by MRC's procedures, nor to begin an audit of its Mobile Metrix (MoMX) service, which Comscore had previously committed to submit in conjunction with an MMX audit resumption. This has resulted in accreditation of MMX being formally revoked (MoMX, which has not been audited to date by MRC, remains unaccredited).

Comscore has indicated to MRC that its current intention is to re-enter the accreditation process for MMX by early 2024, with MoMX also submitted.

Web sites: www.mediaratingcouncil.org and www.comscore.com .