Cookie cutters inflate web audience

A recent study released by comScore has revealed that the deletion of cookies from user’s computers can lead to a large overstatement in a server’s measurement of the size of online audiences.

comScore has released its white paper, The Impact of Cookie Deletion on Site-Server and Ad-Server Metrics in Australia: An Empirical comScore Study. The study addresses the key sources of discrepancy between server-based and panel-based data and reveals that cookie deletion can lead to large overstatements in servers’ measurement of the size of online audiences. Without appropriate adjustments, site-server measurement of the size of website audiences in Australia can be inflated by up to 2.7 times the actual number of unique visitors.

The report revealed the following key findings for the Australian market: