comScore Prices IPO

comScore is the latest hot deal for the fast money crowd to flip around. Will it fare better than theBlackstone deal? It appears so.

The company’s IPO priced today at $16.50. The deal went off above the anticipated $14-$16 range, an impressive feat in this tape, via a syndicate lead lead by Credit Suisse.  The stock will trade under the ticker symbol SCOR.

Their business differs markedly from the models offered by recent takeouts aQuantive Inc. (AQNT-NASDAQ) and 24/7 Real Media (TFSM-NASDAQ), but everything in the digital media area is smoking hot right now, and likely an opportune time for VC’s to hit the bid given the level of interest in the space.

We provide a leading digital marketing intelligence platform that helps our customers make better-informed business decisions and implement more effective digital business strategies. Our products and solutions offer our customers deep insights into consumer behavior, including objective, detailed information regarding usage of their online properties and those of their competitors, coupled with information on consumer demographic characteristics, attitudes, lifestyles and offline behavior.

Our digital marketing intelligence platform is comprised of proprietary databases and a computational infrastructure that measures, analyzes and reports on digital activity. The foundation of our platform is data collected from our comScore panel of more than two million Internet users worldwide who have granted us explicit permission to confidentially measure their Internet usage patterns, online and certain offline buying behavior and other activities. By applying advanced statistical methodologies to our panel data, we project consumers’ online behavior for the total online population and a wide variety of user categories.

Indeed, the deal will offer another payday for several venture capital firms, including Accel Partners, Flatiron Partners and Lehman Brothers Venture Fund, among others.

Still, the world of web analytics is far from controversy free. Earlier this year comScore adjusted its methodology after publishers complained about its accuracy. Currently comscore mines data from more than 2 million global internet users. 

Online display advertising grew 16.7% in the first quarter, while over ad spending fell nearly 1%. Overall internet ad spending, which includes search, grew 26% in the first quarter to $4.9 billion.

Big bucks are moving online, and accurate analytics are crucial to the maturation of the industry. The growth stock boys should be all over this.

March 14, 2007
Web-measurement firm comScore adds new metrics
MarketWatch

comScore S-1
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The content contained represent the opinions of 1440 Wall Street. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author. No position in securities mentioned

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