ComScore’s Nedstat Buy to Enhance Video and Mobile Capabilities
Purchase will provide data sources, video measurement technology, and extend comScore's European footprint.
Purchase will provide data sources, video measurement technology, and extend comScore's European footprint.
Online measurement company comScore announced today it has acquired Netherlands-based analytics company Nedstat for a figure of $36.7 million. ComScore says it plans to use the company to help build out its European presence and to strengthen its existing measurement and data products.
Speaking with ClickZ News, comScore CMO Linda Abraham said the acquisition was “an important step” in extending the company’s Unified Digital Measurement platform, which combines panel-based user information with server-side publisher data to create what comScore describes as a “holistic view” of consumers’ online behavior.
“The acquisition is an instant way to get Nedstat’s client sites to participate in that measurement,” Abraham said, adding that the extra data would help it increase the quality of its products and to “develop a broader set of solutions around the digital ecosystem.”
Those solutions will include enhanced offerings in the video and mobile measurement space, Abraham said, in which Nedstat is currently active. A large portion of its current client base is in the broadcasting or online video space, including brands such as ITV, RTL, and Eurosport, among others. “Growth in online video is exploding, and Nedstat’s tools to measure it is a big part of the agreement,” Abraham said, adding that Nedstat’s technology will provide more granular data than comScore’s consumer-based data collection practices currently can.
Nedstat clients outside of the broadcasting space include Eurocar, Panasonic, and Renault.
As well as adding data and technology to its arsenal, the Nedstat purchase will also expand comScore’s European footprint, adding to its existing operations in Germany, France, and Spain, and creating new ones in markets such as the Netherlands and Belgium.
According to comScore President and CEO Magid Abraham, Nedstat currently services hundreds of sites for around 200 paying customers in Europe, and the company’s client base presents minimal overlap with its own. “[The acquisition] complements comScore’s existing client base and provides new opportunities for cross-selling,” he said during a call with investors today.
Following the acquisition, Nedstat will continued to be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of comScore, and CEO Michael Kinsbergen will join comScore’s advisory board. Other senior Nedstat staff will join comScore in strategy and technology roles. A comScore press release said the firm expects Nedstat to accrue $4 million in revenue for the remainder of the year.