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Both companies have agreed to independent audits of the ways they measure website traffic, as the two firms faced criticism over their use of panel-based methodolgies.

SComScore, Nielsen Respond To IAB Letter

Last week, measurement firm comScore released a report about the use of cookies to measure traffic. They contended the practice led to overinflated audience figures for many websites.

Since site traffic is tied closely to advertising rates, the report spurred a lot of controversy and discussion. The Interactive Advertising Bureau challenged comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings to open their methods to a third-party audit.

IAB has a vested interest in accurate counts. Marketing budgets for online campaigns continue to increase, and if marketers feel websites are providing overblown traffic numbers because they conflict with comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings, negotiations for rates could become tense.

Both companies have responded to IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg. Nielsen//NetRatings president and CEO William Pulver said in his letter the company has already completed the pre-audit process run by the Media Rating Council.

"We are currently executing on a formal Research Plan jointly developed with the MRC’s Research Committee. We look forward to taking the next appropriate steps in the audit process," he wrote.

ComScore also answered the IAB letter, and noted they have opened their their methodology and processes to the Advertising Research Foundation. ComScore and Nielsen//NetRatings both use panel-based methods of determining traffic, a practice Rothenberg blasted in his letter.

"Imagine my surprise when I came to the IAB and discovered that the main audience measurement companies are still relying on panels – a media-measurement technique invented for the radio industry exactly seven decades ago – to quantify the Internet," he said.

A number of industry professionals supported comScore's cookie study. They supported the concept that accurate measurement of site traffic needs to come from places beyond the cookie counts in server logs.