RESTON, Va., April 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) announced that the Audience module of validated Campaign Essentials™ 2.0 (vCE® 2.0) - which includes its reporting of digital campaign age, gender, and behavior-based ethnicity demographics, and the resulting reach, frequency and GRPs - has been granted accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC)*. With this latest MRC milestone, both the vCE® 2.0 Audience and Validation modules are now accredited. comScore is the first company to offer an MRC-accredited viewable GRP for desktop display and video campaigns, which removes non-viewable and invalid impressions from GRP calculations.

"We're thrilled that the MRC has reviewed and granted accreditation to our vCE® Audience module," said Josh Chasin, Chief Research Officer at comScore. "With both the Audience and Validation modules now accredited, this marks the first time buyers and sellers have available an MRC-accredited campaign audience measurement tool that provides campaign validation—including viewability—and demographic GRPs from a single tag. Over the past five years, the viewable GRP has been the holy grail in digital measurement, so this accreditation is a significant achievement. Coming on the heels of the MRC accreditation of comScore's Media Metrix service earlier in the year, this accreditation underscores our commitment to transparency, disclosure, and operational excellence."

"We congratulate comScore on this significant achievement, and are pleased that the Audience 2.0 component of vCE now joins the company's vCE® Validation module as having earned MRC accreditation," said George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of MRC. "Today's advertising ecosystem is only growing more complex, making it essential that research companies have their solutions reviewed and accredited by third party industry organizations. MRC accreditation provides advertisers and their agencies with increased confidence that the tools they are using to plan, execute and evaluate campaigns are methodologically sound so that they can achieve their brand goals."

"There is an ongoing need to define clear standards-based metrics for digital advertising that are comparable to other types of media, and we have been working with MRC and other industry bodies to do exactly that through the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative," said Sherrill Mane, senior vice president of analytics and measurement at Interactive Advertising Bureau. "We applaud companies such as comScore that are taking steps to have their services reviewed and accredited, which helps to enhance the overall value of advertising."

The vCE® Audience suite joins the vCE® Ad Validation suite, Media Metrix™, and comScore Direct as MRC-accredited comScore offerings. View comScore's Third-Party Accreditation, Certification and Review Page to learn more about these accreditations: http://www.comscore.com/About-comScore/Third-Party-Review.

*vCE in DoubleClick is a separate product and is not currently accredited by MRC.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a leading cross-platform measurement company that precisely measures audiences, brands and consumer behavior everywhere. comScore completed its merger with Rentrak Corporation in January 2016, to create the new model for a dynamic, cross-platform world. Built on precision and innovation, our unmatched data footprint combines proprietary digital, TV and movie intelligence with vast demographic details to quantify consumers' multiscreen behavior at massive scale. This approach helps media companies monetize their complete audiences and allows marketers to reach these audiences more effectively. With more than 3,200 clients and global footprint in more than 75 countries, comScore is delivering the future of measurement. For more information on comScore, please visit comscore.com.

Cautionary Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, expectations regarding comScore's advertising suite of products. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause comScore's actual results to differ materially.

For a detailed discussion of these and other risk factors, please refer to comScore's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and other filings comScore makes from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which are available on the SEC's Web site (http://www.sec.gov).

Stockholders of comScore are cautioned not to place undue reliance on its forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date such statements are made. comScore does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or new information after the date of this press release, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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SOURCE comScore