WebProNews

NetRatings says it is moving forward in the Media Rating Council Accreditation process of its Internet audience measurement methods. Recently The Internet Advertising Bureau challenged NetRatings and comScore to agree to a third-party audit of their measurement processes.

"With today's announcement that it will be moving into the audit phase of the MRC process, NetRatings has demonstrated leadership in answering the call for increased transparency in online media measurement," said George Ivie, CEO and executive director of the MRC.

"We have been pleased with NetRatings' progress through the pre-audit process, and we look forward to working with them in the full MRC audit for the collective benefit of advertisers, advertising agencies, publishers and other users of Internet audience measurements."

The MRC will review NetRatings desktop meter that collects information in real time including Web site visits, time spent and pages viewed by Internet users.

NetRatings says they are pleased with taking part in the accreditation process. "We believe this is a logical next step for NetRatings, because the MRC process is the only audit that certifies to clients and to the industry that we have fully disclosed our methodology and that we are executing against that methodology," said Manish Bhatia, executive vice president, NetRatings. "

"We are confident that NetRatings' methods will stand up to review and we are pleased to be supporting transparency and accountability in the industry."