Comscore UDM 2.0

Comscore is now introducing Unified Digital Measurement 2.0, the next generation of our unified digital measurement (UDM), which will be powered by a new enhanced methodology that utilizes first-party (1P) IDs from publishers in place of third-party (3P) signals. The resulting enhancement to our MyMetrix suite will ensure that publishers, agencies, and advertisers can continue to report on audiences with the same granularity and precision that they have come to expect from Comscore, in a future-proof manner amidst digital media landscape changes.

Comscore was founded with the goal of unifying and simplifying the complex digital media landscape across screens and developed our UDM methodology to provide publishers and advertisers with a tool for measurement and modeling for planning based on granular data. We were pioneers in the digital measurement space and have continued to evolve to meet shifts in the landscape, all powered by our dataset at scale and underpinned by our 47 patents cross-platform that we have refined over a decade of best practices in data science.

UDM 2.0 utilizes the same great assets of panels and census event level data, now with 1P IDs from publishers in place of 3P signals. Publishers will still be able to use the same Comscore tags/SDKs that they currently have installed. The only change is that publishers will now need to provide 1P IDs and/or enable a 1P domain-specific cookie to maintain the same robust measurement as 3P signals are being deprecated.

The timeline for migrating to UDM 2.0 is now. Google Chrome has announced that in January of 2024, they will begin to deprecate 3P cookies on 1% of user browsers and continually increase that percentage over the year, to 100% in Q3 2024. Including 1P IDs in the tagging integrations with Comscore now will allow us to train your publisher-specific models and share Private Beta data previews ahead of the public release of the data.

Publishers should start with data collection/tag updates, which will allow Comscore to collect the 1P data for 2-3 months to build publisher-specific Person Representation Unit (PRU) models that represent behaviors of that publisher’s audience and integrate the models into the pipeline of the products that are base of measurement data (like MMX). All publishers who are tagging today must participate, or they risk moving to panel-only measurement or not being reportable if their sites do not meet our Minimum Reporting Standards for panel visitation.

• Comscore recognizes that publishers may update their tags to include 1P signals/IDs on different timelines. The UDM 2.0 pipeline feeding into MMX is intentionally designed to be separate from the UDM 1.0 pipeline, meaning that updating your tags/SDKs to include 1P signals will not impact how you are current reported in MMX.
• During the first quarter of 2024, publishers who start tagging with the inclusion of their 1P IDs in 2023 will start to see Private Beta results to compare against their current MMX reporting. As the year progresses, Comscore will begin to include those entities in MMX reporting (leveraging the UDM 2.0 methodology).

Below is the tagging priority for publishers:

• Desktop/Mobile Web page tag
• Desktop/Mobile Web Video tag
• Mobile App iOS/Android SDKs

Note: While we are asking clients to update all three platform tags listed above, the ONLY two which would revert to panel only in the near term once UDM 2.0 launches (if 1P IDs are not included) are the web page and web video tags, as the deprecation of third-party cookies impacts our browser-based environments. On the mobile app side, we currently have other identifiers that we are still utilizing to calculate a Unique Visitors metric. We know some of those IDs (Advertising IDs etc. – that collect data across unrelated apps) may be heading in the same direction as the third-party cookie. Therefore, we recommend updating Mobile App SDKs with 1P IDs as well. However, publishers should prioritize updating the tags for web page and web video, followed by mobile apps.

Note: There is no extra tagging work required for in-app video (as we can pull all 1P data from the SDK itself) or for CTV (Connected TV) (not in scope for the release of UDM 2.0).

In an effort to be as accommodating and flexible as possible, Comscore offers two solutions for 1P data inclusion on the web page tag:

1P cookie approach:

• 1P cookie enablement in your existing Comscore tags. There is a parameter in the tag called enablefirstpartycookie and it is, by default, set to “FALSE.” A publisher can set it to “TRUE” and it will enable the creation of a 1P cookie. Detailed instructions can be found in the tag implementation guides, found quickly by searching for “enablefirstpartycookie.”
• You should make sure that in addition to updating the tag, you also work with your privacy team to update privacy notices as needed.

1P ID:

• Alternatively, you can include the parameter cs_fpid with a 1P ID, some examples of which are provided below:
• Logged in ID (hashed emails, hashed visitor IDs, hashed subscriber IDs)
• 3P ecosystem IDs (UID 2.0, LiveRamp ATS, ID5, etc.)

Note: When cs_fpid is being passed in the tag, we ask that you also pass the following three parameters: cs_fpit, cs_fpdm and cs_fpdt as outlined in the screenshot below. Note: you may not have values to pass for each of these, if that data is unavailable, you can use value *null instead.

Measurement will shift exclusively to being informed by panel-only data (reporting status of Panel Only) as the deprecation nears levels where 3P cookies no longer represent user behavior accurately. Comscore encourages updating tags now to incorporate 1P IDs and gather three months of data for publisher specific model creation and then the ability to see Private Beta views.

While 3P cookies deprecation is currently impacting web browser and videos, we want to help publishers prepare for future shifts as well. Apps are also expected to be affected as advertising IDs may be deprecated, impacting apps. A good example is Google bringing to bear the Android Privacy Sandbox initiative, following on their overall Privacy Sandbox work that focused on the browser environment.

Comscore is looking to work with the current integrations that we have with these distributed content partners to include in the UDM 2.0 reporting in Comscore’s MyMetrix Suite.

Ad networks should include a 1P ID, but because the inventory spans across domains, they will have to use the cs_fpid solution and we suggest that they utilize a 3P ID from a partner such as The Trade Desk (UID 2.0), LiveRamp (IDL via ATS), or ID5. We will be providing updated ad network tagging guides shortly.

Yes. If you are using GTM, please implement our JS script via a GTM custom container.

Example script below:

Change the CLIENT_ID with their c2 ID

Implement the Publisher tag for all sites, whether updating existing tags to include the UDM 2.0 parameters/requirements or deploying new ones which will have the same UDM 2.0 parameter requirements. The Publisher tag is the same, with the only change between UDM 1.0 and UDM 2.0’s needs is the inclusion of 1P data. The Publisher tag will still deploy 3P cookies if the browser supports that.

Comscore’s preference is to have the publisher include the information for every event measurement. This covers different scenarios like, for example, the case where a visitor starts a website visit without being logged in, and then during the session logs in as a user.

Ad networks can update their tags with the same parameters that we are asking publishers for, but leverage the 3P anonymous ID for cs_fpid’s value.

A publisher may use a hashed login or hashed username as an ID (for example by hashing “FunkyCatLover”) instead of an ID such as a hashed email or subscriber number/ID.

If a publisher is turning on the enablefirstpartycookie value (moving it from FALSE to TRUE) then it is still a good practice to pass a value in the cs_fpid; that value could be the hashed 1P cookie.

Both the cs_fpit (1P ID type) and cs_fpdt (demographic source type) help improve the publisher-specific modelling used in UDM 2.0. If the publisher does not have either piece of information, the parameter can be treated as optional for inclusion, in which case demographics will be assigned based strictly on our panel data.

While models can still be created without them, sharing demographics and other parameters helps fine-tune the models. Without demographics, the publisher’s PRU model will rely on Comscore panel data as it does today. The limitations for smaller reach sites would continue. With shared demographics, there is a higher likelihood of Comscore being able to report on audience composition for those smaller entities.

If demographic data is available, we recommend including it to improve the PRU model. Otherwise, please follow the guide's instructions for age and gender “unknown”: the PRU model will then use available data from the Comscore panel.

Consider using Comscore's 1P cookie solution.

In order to ensure that everything is working as anticipated for the streaming tag, the JavaScript SDK should be updated to support the 1P cookie collection. Each publisher should continue to follow any consent processes that apply to that publisher, such as working with a consent management platform if doing so today.