'comScore Widget Metrix' Service Launched to Track Widget Usage Across the Web

RESTON, Va., June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the launch of comScore Widget Metrix, a new service to track the usage of widgets across the Web. comScore currently tracks Web widgets, which are data files that can be embedded into a site's HTML code and are typically displayed in a small viewing pane on the site. They are most often used to display customized or personalized content on a Web site, such as to share photos or music recommendations, and are commonly found on blogs, social networking sites and other personalized pages.

"The recent explosion of user-generated content has helped create a worldwide marketplace for widgets," said Linda Boland Abraham, executive vice president at comScore. "comScore is excited to be providing measurement for this developing content medium."

"Third-party audience measurement is critical to the emerging widget economy," said Hooman Radfar, founder of widget delivery platform Clearspring. "Measuring and understanding the widget universe is an important first step in enabling publishers and advertisers to fully realize the benefits of the burgeoning distributed Web. As one of the leading widget platforms, we look forward to working with comScore to help drive widget measurement going forward."

Slide Widgets Reach Largest Worldwide Audience

"We are excited to see comScore's report, which validates the enormous reach of the widget economy," said Max Levchin, founder and CEO of Slide. "This report will help to demonstrate the importance of widgets to advertisers and publishers."

Widget Penetration Highest in North America

As more and more sites across the Internet employ Web widgets, the worldwide penetration will continue to grow. In April, widget penetration was highest in North America where 40.3 percent of Internet users visited a Web site with an embedded widget, followed by Western Europe (24.3 percent) and Latin America (17.5 percent).

  Web Widget Internet Audience Penetration by Worldwide Region
  April 2007
  Source: comScore Widget Metrix

                                    Unique Viewers   Widget Penetration*
  Region                                (000)             by Region

  Worldwide                            177,777              21.0%
  North America                         81,011              40.3%
  Western Europe                        43,792              24.3%
  Asia Pacific                          33,514              10.9%
  Latin America                         10,074              17.5%
  Middle East-Africa                     4,805              12.6%
  Eastern Europe                         4,581               7.6%

* Penetration = Number of unique widget viewers /number of total Internet users for that region

Widget Definitions

The current universe of widgets is defined as embedded flash (.swf) objects. The comScore Widget Metrix service will evolve in its tracking of widget file types as the market dynamics and content delivery systems change. The report currently focuses on the individual widgets, and not the platforms that deliver them. Desktop widgets are also not included.

For more information on comScore Widget Metrix, please go to http://www.comscore.com/about/info_req.asp.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by more than 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, MBNA, Starcom USA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/.