ComScore / Google Competition: Paid Click This!

There really is something just perfect about this story.

A few months back, you may recall, the Street was in a tizzy over data from Internet measurement company ComScore (SCOR) that showed weakening paid clicks at Google (GOOG). But when Google’s March quarter numbers came in better than the ComScore numbers suggested, Google shares soared, while ComScore shares were battered.

Today, the big news in the world of measurement tools is that Google plans to get into the Web traffic measurement business. The WSJ story notes that Google’s approach “could post a major threat to the Web measurement services” comScore and Nielsen Online. According to the Journal, the new Google service will be based on data from Web servers, “allowing for a deeper and broader view of Internet use” that the survey approach the current dominant players use. The Google service, moreover, will be offered free to marketers.

William Blair analyst Troy Mastin asserted in a research note this morning that the Google service should have “minor or no effect” on ComScore.

Oh, really? Investors think otherwise. Indeed, how would any stock react to news that Google was going to jump into the market with a new free service? Not hard to guess that one. SCOR today is down $5.43, or 19.6%, to $22.26.

Comments

[Wez]

SCOR just got punked. Watch the short interest surge over the next few weeks.