Well, Nielsen/NetRatings may have put out a press release today touting the fact that they’ve agreed to a full Media Rating Council audit of their measurement methodology, but it turns out Comscore has also agreed to an MRC audit, according to a company spokesperson.
Yesterday the initial “summit” hosted by (and initiated — perhaps almost demanded — by) the Internet Advertising Bureau took place. During the meeting, Nielsen/NetRatings apparently officially announced it will go through the Media Rating Council audit of its measurement methodology. The company’s already completed the pre-audit phase (i.e., the MRC has assessed their system and told them what they need to change before they tackle the actual audit).
The Comscore spokesperson told me “more information will be forthcoming” in a planned joint announcement (possibly from the IAB, NetRatings, and the likely advertiser organizations). Comscore’s currently in the pre-audit phase with the MRC.
Oh, and on the gossip tip: The inference I’ve made from all this is these groups agreed to do a joint announcement, but NetRatings jumped the gun to do their own. Just a hunch.