WebProNews

Online tracking firm comScore has acquired mobile research company M:Metrics.

comScore paid $44.3 million for the Seattle based company and issued 50,000 stock options to certain M:Metrics investors.

The acquisition strengthens comScore's position in measuring mobile phone usage, mobile Internet surfing and advertising.

comScore says M:Metrics will add as much as $7 million to its reported revenues this year. It also benefits from M:Metrics operating loss carry forward of $20 million, which comScore says will reduce its future tax payments.

In the U.S., 89 percent of mobile phone users own a device that can browse the Internet, according to M:Metrics. In emerging markets, many people use mobile devices exclusively for communication and Internet access.

"With the substantial growth of 3G devices and Internet friendly handsets, we believe we are now at an inflection point in Internet usage on mobile devices," said Dr. Magid Abraham, comScore's president and chief executive officer. 
 

Will Hodgman, president and chief executive officer of M:Metrics called the deal a natural fit that combines traditional online measurement services with mobile analytics.

"As media converges, which it does every day, mobile as an island needs to be connected to a continent," Hodgman told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He said advertisers, mobile phone manufacturers and media companies want a single solution to measure both mobile and fixed-line Internet traffic. He said its because they want to know how to market to consumers in both areas.