comScore Hybrid Methodology Leads to 30%+ User “Increases”
It appears that in December 2009, the 112 of the comScore top 1000 sites that were entirely or partially measured by comScore’s hybrid methodology saw on average a 30% increase in unique visitor counts. Some of the largest discrepancies appear to show up with sites that tend to get more traffic from areas where the panel-based methodologies have historically appeared from outside observes to have had problems, like at work and at school (university/college). Witness Techcrunch and LinkedIn’s meteoric rise, for example. Here is some of the data (UV counts in thousands):
| Name | Hybrid UV | Panel UV | Delta? | % Diff |
| Onion Inc. | 4,016 | 1,410 | 2,605 | 184.7% |
| TechCrunch | 3,299 | 1,446 | 1,853 | 128.1% |
| Bestofmedia Group | 5,844 | 2,625 | 3,219 | 122.6% |
| RADARONLINE.COM | 4,153 | 1,879 | 2,274 | 121.0% |
| THEDAILYBEAST.COM | 2,846 | 1,296 | 1,549 | 119.5% |
| BOSTONHERALD.COM | 2,934 | 1,357 | 1,577 | 116.2% |
| Gawker Media | 15,878 | 7,354 | 8,524 | 115.9% |
| New York Media | 5,696 | 2,689 | 3,007 | 111.8% |
| BUZZFEED.COM | 2,802 | 1,334 | 1,468 | 110.0% |
| Huffington Post | 20,079 | 9,956 | 10,123 | 101.7% |
| Sugar, Inc – PopSugar Network | 7,476 | 3,897 | 3,579 | 91.8% |
| LINKEDIN.COM | 20,424 | 10,785 | 9,639 | 89.4% |
| ZILLOW.COM | 5,255 | 2,866 | 2,389 | 83.4% |
| WUNDERGROUND.COM | 11,218 | 6,126 | 5,092 | 83.1% |
| BBC Sites | 15,620 | 8,567 | 7,053 | 82.3% |
| CTVglobemedia | 2,643 | 1,454 | 1,189 | 81.7% |
| Bloomberg | 9,091 | 5,203 | 3,888 | 74.7% |
| AutoGuide.com Group | 4,777 | 2,736 | 2,041 | 74.6% |
| Bonnier Corporation | 3,759 | 2,154 | 1,605 | 74.5% |
| Digg Inc. | 14,175 | 8,190 | 5,984 | 73.1% |
| SALON.COM | 2,473 | 1,429 | 1,044 | 73.0% |
| TheStreet.com Sites | 3,299 | 1,922 | 1,377 | 71.6% |
| Martha Stewart Sites | 4,997 | 2,930 | 2,068 | 70.6% |
| Examiner.com Sites | 13,031 | 7,657 | 5,374 | 70.2% |
| Maxim | 2,308 | 1,362 | 947 | 69.5% |
| CWTV.COM | 2,449 | 1,472 | 977 | 66.4% |
| WhitePages | 27,462 | 16,517 | 10,945 | 66.3% |
| ZIMBIO.COM | 7,136 | 4,314 | 2,822 | 65.4% |
| Mail.com Media Corporation | 4,331 | 2,619 | 1,712 | 65.4% |
| HealthGrades | 8,551 | 5,207 | 3,344 | 64.2% |
| TheFind | 12,010 | 7,357 | 4,652 | 63.2% |
| Trulia Network | 3,954 | 2,442 | 1,512 | 61.9% |
| National Geographic Sites | 6,227 | 3,875 | 2,352 | 60.7% |
| BabyCenter Network | 6,882 | 4,380 | 2,502 | 57.1% |
| AccuWeather Sites | 7,344 | 4,695 | 2,649 | 56.4% |
| Canwest Digital | 5,189 | 3,319 | 1,870 | 56.4% |
| Wenner Media | 7,790 | 5,011 | 2,779 | 55.4% |
| Canoe Network | 2,101 | 1,356 | 744 | 54.9% |
| NHL Network | 4,272 | 2,808 | 1,464 | 52.1% |
| AH Belo | 4,399 | 2,898 | 1,501 | 51.8% |
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | 14,846 | 9,819 | 5,028 | 51.2% |
| CollegeHumor Media | 8,129 | 5,404 | 2,725 | 50.4% |
| Rodale, Inc. | 5,552 | 3,703 | 1,849 | 49.9% |
| ZAM | 2,081 | 1,392 | 688 | 49.4% |
| Hollywood.com Network | 9,243 | 6,239 | 3,004 | 48.1% |
| ASSOCIATEDCONTENT.COM | 15,319 | 10,474 | 4,844 | 46.3% |
| Curse | 2,632 | 1,800 | 832 | 46.2% |
| FunnyorDie | 5,243 | 3,599 | 1,645 | 45.7% |
| TV Guide Online Network | 7,893 | 5,439 | 2,454 | 45.1% |
| Belo | 5,353 | 3,694 | 1,660 | 44.9% |
| Hulu | 18,948 | 13,087 | 5,861 | 44.8% |
| The Economist Group | 2,523 | 1,755 | 768 | 43.7% |
| NBC Universal | 29,544 | 20,580 | 8,964 | 43.6% |
| GATHER.COM | 2,293 | 1,598 | 696 | 43.5% |
| Tech Media Network | 6,253 | 4,409 | 1,844 | 41.8% |
| PANDORA.COM | 13,303 | 9,384 | 3,919 | 41.8% |
| iVillage.com: The Womens Network | 32,350 | 22,874 | 9,476 | 41.4% |
| OVGUIDE.COM | 2,620 | 1,878 | 742 | 39.5% |
| Time Warner – Excluding AOL | 21,446 | 15,532 | 5,914 | 38.1% |
| FLIXSTER.COM | 2,734 | 1,988 | 746 | 37.5% |
| Discovery Digital Media Sites | 21,017 | 15,393 | 5,623 | 36.5% |
| NCI Interactive | 2,005 | 1,481 | 524 | 35.4% |
| PBS | 10,469 | 7,759 | 2,710 | 34.9% |
| Demand Media | 47,166 | 35,063 | 12,103 | 34.5% |
| TheFashionSpot | 1,835 | 1,366 | 470 | 34.4% |
| Healthline Networks | 11,799 | 8,807 | 2,992 | 34.0% |
| Answers.com Sites | 44,619 | 33,666 | 10,953 | 32.5% |
| Everyday Health | 29,697 | 22,550 | 7,147 | 31.7% |
| Turner Network | 71,753 | 54,558 | 17,195 | 31.5% |
| DailyRadar | 9,862 | 7,536 | 2,327 | 30.9% |
| SimplyHired, Inc. | 3,811 | 2,917 | 894 | 30.6% |
| Parade | 2,446 | 1,891 | 555 | 29.4% |
| imeem | 1,968 | 1,546 | 422 | 27.3% |
| NetShelter Technology Media | 37,337 | 29,939 | 7,398 | 24.7% |
| Total Beauty Media | 1,813 | 1,464 | 349 | 23.8% |
| Playboy Online | 2,194 | 1,774 | 420 | 23.7% |
| SIDEREEL.COM | 1,628 | 1,316 | 311 | 23.6% |
| JUSTIN.TV | 3,144 | 2,545 | 599 | 23.5% |
| Craveonline | 17,282 | 14,096 | 3,186 | 22.6% |
| Sony Music Entertainment | 5,630 | 4,620 | 1,010 | 21.8% |
| b5media | 2,963 | 2,468 | 494 | 20.0% |
| Source Interlink Companies | 7,375 | 6,152 | 1,223 | 19.9% |
| Sheknows | 16,921 | 14,196 | 2,725 | 19.2% |
| LEGACY.COM* | 8,377 | 7,037 | 1,340 | 19.0% |
| NING.COM | 6,829 | 5,796 | 1,033 | 17.8% |
| Fantasy Sports Ventures | 17,490 | 14,952 | 2,538 | 17.0% |
| Break Media | 28,138 | 24,133 | 4,005 | 16.6% |
| Glam Media | 72,033 | 61,902 | 10,131 | 16.4% |
| Wetpaint | 1,999 | 1,741 | 259 | 14.9% |
| LoveToKnow Media | 6,093 | 5,326 | 767 | 14.4% |
| NameMedia | 10,359 | 9,109 | 1,250 | 13.7% |
| Indeed | 8,572 | 7,638 | 934 | 12.2% |
| TravelAdNetwork | 16,495 | 14,726 | 1,769 | 12.0% |
| CBS Interactive | 70,851 | 63,687 | 7,164 | 11.2% |
| Viacom Digital | 56,491 | 50,845 | 5,645 | 11.1% |
| Comcast Corporation | 42,166 | 38,009 | 4,157 | 10.9% |
| Technorati Media | 26,277 | 23,902 | 2,375 | 9.9% |
| GN Multicultural (Gorilla Nation) | 4,468 | 4,093 | 375 | 9.2% |
| AOL LLC | 110,807 | 102,075 | 8,732 | 8.6% |
| Meredith Women’s Network | 14,303 | 13,259 | 1,043 | 7.9% |
| ARTISTdirect Network | 4,582 | 4,305 | 277 | 6.4% |
| Warner Bros. Digital Media Network | 10,321 | 9,705 | 616 | 6.4% |
| RH Donnelley | 9,289 | 8,784 | 505 | 5.8% |
| Lifetime Digital | 2,153 | 2,081 | 72 | 3.5% |
| GN Teens (Gorilla Nation) | 5,392 | 5,322 | 70 | 1.3% |
| Mattel Sites | 8,081 | 8,088 | (7) | -0.1% |
| Beyond.com Network | 1,613 | 1,621 | (7) | -0.4% |
| GameRevolution | 4,192 | 4,277 | (85) | -2.0% |
| Orange Sites | 1,818 | 1,885 | (66) | -3.5% |
| Terra – Telefonica | 3,510 | 3,781 | (271) | -7.2% |
| GiantRealm | 7,361 | 7,930 | (569) | -7.2% |
| GN Kids (Gorilla Nation) | 3,951 | 4,295 | (344) | -8.0% |
| Averages/Total | 1,425,241 | 1,094,955 | 330,286 | 30.2% |
Please note that we changed our name to XA.net and our new blog is located at http://xa.net/weblog
Interesting. Where are you getting the panel data? Are you saying Dec. 09 is hybrid and Nov 09 is panel?
comScore reports both sets of data actually. So the numbers are directly comparable!
[...] to create reports on Internet behavior and trends.” We’ve seen b.scorecardresearch.com before which is the beaconing URL that comscore is using for reconciling its panel numbers with the higher [...]