Sorrell Wants Rentrak, comScore Partnership

WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell is urging Rentrak and comScore to join forces and find a solution to what he describes as 'faulty measurement' of digital ad views and viewability.

WPP recently acquired minority stakes in both Rentrak and comScore, as part of its strategy to provide clients with cross-media audience and campaign measurement capabilities.

In the Group's earnings conference call held yesterday, Sorrell (pictured) told analysts that he would welcome the idea of Rentrak, which uses set-top box data to measure TV viewing, and digital measurement specialist comScore working together to provide a 'meaningful' competitive measurement service. During the call, he said the existing two-second viewability guidelines are 'pretty ludicrous', and that some clients have stopped investing in online video, because they are unable to justify the cost based on current measurement and verification standards.

In a previous call, Sorrell said the Nielsen measurement system in the US had not tackled the problem of online ad viewability and verification, and that clients are not getting the necessary verification from measurement services, like Nielsen's, to convince them of the value of that spending.

Web sites: www.wpp.com , www.rentrak.com and www.comscore.com .