Summary: Award and outcome -- new case study courtesy of Microsoft and comScore

Microsoft and comScore are getting all cuddly again. Two days ago we wrote about the “analyst tax”, which may have equivalents like the "survey tax" (or the "measure-things-that-make-me-look-better tax" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]). This pair that we deal with today is not new to us; we wrote about it in:

• comScore Crawls into Bed with Microsoft
• Microsoft Repeatedly Receives Good News from comScore after Signing Deal with comScore
• Microsoft Crowd Uses comScore Numbers to Lie Again

Look, what do we have here? Well, several days ago we found a lot of news from comScore and Microsoft (yes, again). For instance:

● Massive and comScore Announce Breakthrough In-Game Advertising Research Methodology

For the first time ever, advertisers will now be able to see the direct impact that in-game advertisements have on consumer online behavior, thanks to a new research collaboration between Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp., and comScore Inc.

● Microsoft’s Massive Partners With comScore To Prove In-Game Ads Work

The unit was disproportionately hard-hit in Microsoft’s recent layoffs (28 percent of Massive’s staff was let go)—and we had heard that Microsoft was shopping Massive and was willing to sell it for just a fraction of the $200 to $400 million that it had paid for it three years ago. As for the in-game ad business overall, it has not met heady projections for its growth.

● Massive teams with comScore to verify how well in-game ads work

Hoping to win over advertisers, Microsoft’s Massive division and market researcher comScore have teamed up to statistically show how effective in-game advertisements are.

They are sharing data now. That's one company that claims to be delivering "independent" data on usage.

Within the new methodology, comScore utilizes Massive's relationship with Microsoft by pulling anonymous data from services including Microsoft's Xbox Live and Windows Live ID. comScore then combines that data with input from its large panel to determine if ad viewers visited the product's website, searched for the brand online, or other relevant activities.

Should this be making any output from comScore regarding Microsoft highly suspect? This is not their first time hooking up and working together.

More news items, for future reference:

● Microsoft, ComScore Pair For Gaming Measure

● comScore, Massive partner for gaming insight

● comScore helps Microsoft measure in-game ads

● ComScore makes Massive breakthrough with in-game ads

And look what we found in the news just days ago:

Microsoft websites prove popular with users

Industry tracker conScore released a study which found that 1.2 billion internet users aged 15 older spent a total of nearly 27 billion hours online in September, and Microsoft websites accounted for 14.5 percent of the minutes spent online worldwide in September.

ComScore reported that the results reveal Microsoft is “the most enegaging global property.”

Yes, comScore is advertising Microsoft again. Maybe what's "engaging" is something like Windows Update and security advisories. The data and methods are all proprietary, so comScore need only deliver sound bites that glamourise Microsoft and both parties are happy with their business relationships; the public? Not as much. It is being deceived, but most people do not know about it. Microsoft applies the same tactics to lie about GNU/Linux and Free software, so this is relevant to everyone. ⬆

"Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!"

--Friedrich Nietzsche