Comscore, Inc. (“Comscore”, “we”, “us” or “our”) interacts with current and prospective clients, investors, and the general public via its website, www.comscore.com (“Website”), its mobile application, (“Application”), and other Comscore portals. Our online market research community has millions of participants who are interested in voicing their opinions through their survey responses and activities, as described below, and in influencing which products and services are offered. Panelists allow their digital consumption behavior to be collected and used to produce a variety of reports about consumers' preferences and interests.

The information you contribute is used by Comscore, a globally-recognized authority on market research and cross-platform consumption behavior trends, whose data are routinely cited by major media outlets such as The New York Times®, The Wall Street Journal®, and CNN®. The data are extensively relied upon by some of the world’s largest media companies, advertisers and film studios and its strategic partners include the most important players in the TV and digital media and advertising ecosystem.

This Privacy Policy describes how we process – or, in other words, use, collect, transmit, store, share, and delete – your personal information in connection with your use of our Website, our Application, or other services that refer to or link to this Policy.

Comscore subsidiaries operate several research panels and the ScorecardResearch business, which are not governed by this Policy and have different practices. Each panel is governed by the privacy policy that appears on the website assigned to that research panel. Some ScorecardResearch activities are described below where relevant to this Policy. For more details on ScorecardResearch, please view the ScorecardResearch privacy policy here.

The short version

As further described below, under this Policy we may collect the following categories of information (which may be considered personal information under certain laws):

• personal and online identifiers,
• Internet or other electronic network activity,
• geolocation information (inferred from IP address), and
• other information about you that is linked to personal information.

We may collect information about you or your household from third parties as well. For details about our practices, please read this entire Policy.

What information is collected and why  

We may collect personal information that you choose to provide to us. For example, if you contact us through our Website, we may collect personal identifiers (e.g., your name and contact information) as well as any other information that you voluntarily provide to us in order to respond to your inquiry or verify your identity, where necessary. We may also collect personal information that you provide to us when you register for any of our services.

Information collected automatically when you visit our Websites or use our Application. Our Website and Application automatically create logs regarding your activity on our Website. These logs may identify the features that you use, the actions that you take, and the information that you access while on our Website or mobile Application.

The personal information collected from you may include online identifiers (e.g., IP address) and Internet or other electronic network activity including information about your browsing history, operating system, browser type, website preferences, your use of our Website or Application (e.g., time accessed, duration of visit, etc.). We generally use this information in statistical and aggregate formats to assess the effectiveness of our Website and Application and to better understand your priorities and interests.

Information collected using ScorecardResearch cookies or similar technologies (“Tags”). 

This Website may set tags on your browser that collect data for the ScorecardResearch service, a service offered by Full Circle Studies, Inc. (“Full Circle Studies”) which is also part of the Comscore market research group.

This information is used in the Comscore market research efforts to build products and services which help companies better understand the likes and dislikes of consumers. The ScorecardResearch Tags may also provide information for use in interest-based advertising. For more information about your choices related to market research and interest-based advertising on the Website and Application covered by this Policy, please click here. To view the ScorecardResearch privacy policy, please click here.

Other information collected by third parties.

We may use third parties and service providers to obtain personal information and combine that data with other data that we collect from or about you to improve our Website, Application, products, and services, and to operate our business. Third parties may set a cookie on your computer or device when you visit a participating website, use a participating application, or view an advertisement on participating websites or applications. Third parties may also collect online identifiers associated with your device such as cookie identifiers, mobile or other hardware or device identifiers, and IP addresses.

We may work with third parties, including Google Analytics, who collect information about your use of our Website, other websites, and/or online services over time for non-advertising purposes. For more information about how Google Analytics collects and uses information when you use our Website or Application, please click here. To opt out of Google Analytics, click here.

How we share the information we collect

Sharing for business purposes. We may provide personal information to all categories of third parties and/or service providers listed in this Policy to improve our products and services and to operate our business. We may share all the categories of information listed in this Policy with other companies including Comscore affiliates, subsidiaries, or parent companies as well as third-party data enrichers, data quality aggregators and providers of data matches services:

• to operate Comscore’s products and services or support general operations of business;
• to integrate the products and services of our business partners;
• to use third-party cloud services to host our Website, and process and store the information we process about you; and
• for any other legitimate business purpose.

Sharing for commercial purposes. We may share information collected under this Policy with:

• our customers, which include media companies including Google, brands, public relations companies, advertising networks, data analytics providers, distribution partners, and social networks, and marketing and advertising agencies; and
• joint industry committees (“JICs”) involved in media audience measurement and research.

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), these disclosures may qualify as “sales”. To the extent that our business model constitutes a “sale” under the CCPA, we “sold” the following categories of personal information in the last 12 months: online identifiers, Internet or other electronic network activity information, commercial and transactions information, geolocation information (inferred from IP address), demographic information and other characteristics, education information, professional or employment related information, and inferences drawn from the above. We “sold” each category to the categories of third parties listed above.

Corporate transactions. In the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar event, any personal information and data we process from you may become part of the assets we transfer or share in preparation for any such transaction. Any acquirer or successor of Comscore may continue to process personal information consistent with this Policy.

Compliance and compelled disclosures. We may share personal information:

• with public authorities to respond to subpoenas, court orders, and other legal process, or as otherwise required by law;
• to protect the rights, privacy, safety, and property of Comscore, our customers, our business partners, or others; and
• to exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims, to enforce our contracts, to investigate, respond to and resolve problems or inquiries (including governmental inquiries), or to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

How long we keep the information collected

We store your information for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes listed above or as required by applicable local law.

Your choices about your personal information

Certain domestic and international laws provide individuals with rights to their personal information. These rights may include the rights, subject to certain exceptions, to access specific pieces of personal information, correct any errors to personal information, object to the processing of personal information, and delete the information. Individuals may also have the right under certain laws to opt out of the sale of personal information as defined by that law. Please note that these consumer rights and definition of “personal information” vary by jurisdiction.

We provide the right to access and delete personal information, subject to certain exceptions. To exercise your choices about your personal information, including choices which may not be listed above, please visit our Data Subject Rights Page. You may also contact us by email at DSR@comscore.com, or by phone at 1-833-713-1509.

If you would like to submit a request to opt out of the “sale” of your personal information, you may also exercise your right on our Data Subject Rights Page.

We may need to request additional information from you to verify your identity (e.g., your email address, cookie identifier, machine identifier, and/or device identifier) or understand the scope of your request. However, you will not be required to create an account with us to submit a request or have it fulfilled. You may designate an authorized agent to exercise your rights by contacting DSR@comscore.com.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of the above rights. We may, however, offer you certain financial incentives permitted by applicable law as compensation for allowing us to collect, sell, or maintain your personal information through your participation in our market research efforts.

For information about the number of requests received on an annual basis and additional metrics, please visit our Data Subject Rights Page.

Interest-based advertising and market research

What is interest-based advertising?  

Interest-based advertising, also known as Online Behavioral Advertising, allows advertisers to display ads tailored to your individual interests based on how you browse and shop online, as well as to provide advertising-related services such as ad delivery, reporting, attribution, analytics, and market research.

We may use third parties and service providers, as discussed in the What information is collected and why section, to collect information for interest-based advertising. This process may involve third parties and services providers using tagging technology, such as a cookie, on your device. These tags may collect data about your Web browsing over time and across digital properties, including information about the possible relationships among different browsers and devices. We adhere to the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Self-Regulatory Principles in connection to all interest-based advertising activities.

We may also set tags on your browser that collect information for ScorecardResearch, a service offered by Full Circle Studies, Inc., which is also a part of the Comscore market research group. The information collected from these tags is used for interest-based advertising purposes, where appropriate. Please note interest-based advertising services based on information collected by ScorecardResearch are not provided in the European Union (“EU”).

How do I manage my preferences for interest-based advertising?

You may visit  www.aboutads.info/choices to learn more about interest-based advertising, to opt out of our collection and transfer of Web browsing information for interest-based advertising purposes, and to opt out of the collection and use of information for this purpose by other companies that participate in industry self-regulation. To opt out of our collection and transfer of application usage information for third parties to use for their own interest-based advertising purposes, you can use any controls that are provided for this purpose by the operating system on your mobile device. Please note that opting out will not stop advertising from appearing in your browser or in the applications you use. It may make the ads you see less relevant to your interests. You may also continue to receive interest-based advertising from other companies.

What is market research? 

Market research is an organized effort to gather information about markets and customers. With the use of ScorecardResearch tags and surveys, Comscore’s market research group collects and analyzes information to provide products and services to companies around the world.  This information helps companies better understand and meet the needs of consumers. 

How do I manage my preferences for market research?

To control your level of participation in our market research programs or opt out, click here. By opting out of our market research program, ScorecardResearch Tags will only be able to count your visit to a particular site but not identify your device beyond that count. Additionally, if your mobile device platform offers settings to limit data collection for interest-based advertising, you can use these settings to opt out of participating in our market research programs. For example, your device may “Limit Ad Tracking.”

What does opting out of market research on your browser do?

The browser opt-out mechanisms linked above are cookie based (i.e., a cookie must be on your computer to tell our systems that you have opted out). The cookie-based method does not prevent us from identifying certain events (e.g., when a user visits a website).  The method, however, prevents us from associating that event with your browser or otherwise identifying you beyond us merely counting your visit. If you delete, block, or otherwise restrict cookies, this opt-out may not be effective. Additionally, because different computers and different Internet browsers require their own version of the opt-out cookie, you may need to perform this opt-out process on any computers and browsers that you want to be opted-out.

Other important information about your personal information

Security. We use organizational, technical, and administrative measures to protect your personal information. For an overview of our security measures, click here.

International Visitors and Information Transfers

If you visit our Website or Application or participate in our program from locations outside of the United States, please note that any information you provide to us through your use of our Website or your participation in the program may be transferred to and processed in countries other than the country from which you accessed our Website or Application or participated in our program, including the United States where our central database is operated. Subject to the next paragraph below, please be aware that the United States, and other countries in which your data may be maintained, may not offer an equivalent level of protection as provided for in your country.

We take measures to help protect your personal information when it is transferred from the European Economic Area (“EEA”) to third countries.  We may rely on European Commission adequacy decisions about certain countries, as applicable (see here). Where applicable we rely on standard clauses approved by the European Commission (see here) in our contracts with third parties that receive information from both inside and outside the EEA or transfer on the basis of permissible statutory derogations

For individuals based in the EEA or Switzerland, Comscore B.V., Herikerbergweg 280, 1101 CT Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is the controller for personal data collected and processed from visitors to the websites and users of the applications based in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) or Switzerland, unless otherwise stated in an application-specific privacy policy. Comscore B.V. is a subsidiary of Comscore, Inc.

For more information about our GDPR policies, please click  here. Our GDPR Privacy Policy includes additional information, that complements this Policy, relating to the processing of ‘personal data’ and the exercise of rights under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679.

Comscore and its services continue to comply with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland to the United States. To learn more, please view our EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Statement.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify or update this Policy periodically. If we change our practices with respect to your information, we will notify you by posting a revised Privacy Policy on this Website and our Application with a 'Last Updated' date, and such modified or amended version of Policy shall be effective as to you and your information as of that revision. We encourage you to revisit this Policy periodically to stay informed about our practices with respect to your information.

Authoritative Version.  When the text of this Policy is available in multiple languages, the English version is the authoritative version, except where prohibited by applicable law.

Contacting Comscore

If you have any concerns, questions, or would just like to better understand our privacy practices, please send an email to privacy@comscore.com. If you prefer to contact us by mail, please write to Comscore ATTN: Privacy, 11950 Democracy Drive, Reston, VA 20190.