comScore, Inc. (SCOR): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking to cut through the noise on how comScore, Inc. actually makes money now, especially after their big recapitalization to wipe out over $18 million in annual preferred dividends. Honestly, understanding their pivot to unified, cross-platform measurement-which saw revenue grow 20.2% year-over-year in Q3 2025-is key to valuing their future. We've broken down their entire operation, from their MRC-accredited local TV contracts to their $75.5 million Content & Ad Measurement stream, into the nine essential blocks below so you can see exactly where the value is being built, and where the risks still sit.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the core relationships comScore, Inc. is building to power its measurement and currency offerings as of late 2025. These aren't just handshake agreements; they are integrations designed to deliver tangible, measurable results in a fragmented media landscape.

The focus is clearly on unifying measurement and accelerating sales enablement. For instance, the cross-platform solutions segment, which benefits from many of these alliances, generated $12.3 million in revenue in Q3 2025, marking a 20.2% year-over-year surge.

Here are the key statistical and financial details surrounding these critical alliances:

The JIC certification is a big deal; comScore, Inc. is the only provider with both JIC certification for all evaluated measurement categories and Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation of its audience estimates.

Regarding the AI-Powered Data Partner Network, the technology is showing immediate, quantifiable impact, which is crucial given the industry shift away from traditional identifiers. For example, one segment saw a reach expansion of over 95%.

The TiVo (Xperi Inc.) partnership is designed to unify content identification across linear TV, CTV, FAST, and streaming, aiming for fewer missed impressions and less wasted spend, which directly impacts the efficiency of the $88.9 million in total revenue comScore, Inc. reported for Q3 2025.

For the Google project, the latest data shows the broader AI adoption trend that such a partnership would feed into: More than 30% of people in the US actively use AI each month.

The Polaris I/O workflow is designed to accelerate prospecting, which ties directly to the sales cycle supporting the $75.5 million in core Content & Ad Measurement revenue reported for the quarter.

Finance: review the impact of the 20.2% cross-platform growth on the Q4 pipeline by next Tuesday.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

You're looking at the core actions comScore, Inc. (SCOR) is taking to drive its measurement business forward as of late 2025. The focus is clearly on restructuring the balance sheet while pushing forward with next-generation measurement products. Here's the quick math on what they are actively doing.

A pivotal activity involves executing the recapitalization transaction, announced on September 29, 2025, with an estimated closing in December 2025. This move is designed to significantly clean up the capital structure. The execution directly leads to the elimination of annual preferred dividends of more than $18.0 million per year. Furthermore, this deal cancels the preferred stockholders' right to a special dividend of at least $47.0 million. The mechanics involve exchanging approximately $80.0 million of existing Series B liquidation preference for common stock at $8.11 per share, and the remaining $183.7 million for new Series C preferred stock at $14.50 per share.

The development and deployment of Comscore Content Measurement (CCM) for unified data is a major operational focus. This is showing up in the results, as cross-platform solutions revenue reached $12.3 million in the third quarter of 2025, marking 20.2% year-over-year growth. Management noted that excluding a specific client's data-strategy shift, the cross-platform growth would have been 35% year-over-year, reflecting strong CCM adoption and new multiyear deals. This product is seen as key to leading as AI transforms media buying.

The company is actively engaged in selling and renewing long-term local TV measurement contracts. This focus is paying off, as the local TV offering delivered another quarter of double-digit growth in Q3 2025, driven by key renewals and new business. This growth helped offset a 2.8% year-over-year decline in the broader syndicated audience revenue segment.

Managing and modernizing key technology platforms for cost efficiency is an ongoing effort. For the third quarter of 2025, core operating expenses were $86.6 million, up 4.4% from $82.9 million in Q3 2024. This increase was primarily due to higher employee compensation and professional fees, but it was partially offset by lower data costs. The Adjusted EBITDA for Q3 2025 was $11.0 million, representing a 12.4% margin, down from $12.4 million and a 14.0% margin in Q3 2024.

The fundamental activity of collecting and processing massive digital, linear TV, and OTT viewership data underpins all revenue streams. This data aggregation capability is what supports the cross-platform measurement offering and the local TV currency efforts.

Here are the key operational metrics from the third quarter ended September 30, 2025:

The core activities driving the business can be summarized as follows:

• Developing and deploying Comscore Content Measurement (CCM) for unified data.
• Executing the pivotal recapitalization to eliminate over $18 million in annual preferred dividends.
• Collecting and processing massive digital, linear TV, and OTT viewership data.
• Selling and renewing long-term local TV measurement contracts.
• Managing and modernizing key technology platforms for cost efficiency.

You can see the direct impact of these activities on the top and bottom lines, even with near-term headwinds like a client data-strategy shift tempering Proximic growth in Q3 and expected in Q4. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the core assets that power comScore, Inc.'s ability to deliver its cross-platform measurement currency. These aren't just abstract concepts; they are tangible, audited, and financially supported components of the business.

The foundation of the data offering is its massive data footprint combining panel and census data. This is realized through the Unified Digital Measurement (UDM) methodology, which fuses person-level data from its proprietary panel with census-level page views or campaign impressions obtained from ad server data. This combination helps overcome issues like cookie deletion and multi-device usage. comScore, Inc. currently receives census page-level information from more than 90 of the top 100 U.S. media properties. The U.S. proprietary panel itself is substantial, comprising one million Comscore panelists in the United States, which feeds into the overall data footprint that combines digital, linear TV, over-the-top, and theatrical viewership intelligence.

Intellectual property is heavily concentrated in proprietary measurement platforms like Proximic and Comscore Campaign Ratings. Proximic by comScore, Inc. is the dedicated programmatic targeting division, enabling media buyers and sellers to activate audience and content targeting segments. Furthermore, the Comscore MMX® Multi-Platform provides a deduplicated view of total audience behavior across desktops, smartphones, and tablets. In Q3 2025, the company's cross-platform solutions demonstrated strong adoption, growing 20% year-over-year.

A significant differentiator is the MRC-accredited and U.S. JIC certified local TV measurement offering. As of Q2 2025, comScore, Inc. remained the only offering in the market that is both Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited and U.S. Joint Industry Committee (JIC) certified. Specifically, the company is accredited by the MRC in all 210 local markets and nationally for its household-level TV measurement, covering household, age, and gender "households with" metrics within its Time-Based Grid reports. This accreditation validates methodologies based on big data device tuning measurement.

The financial resources, while lean, are critical for operations and strategic flexibility. As of September 30, 2025, comScore, Inc. reported cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaling $29.9 million, which included $3.2 million in restricted cash. The outstanding debt principal under the senior secured term loan was $44.7 million at that time.

Underpinning all these assets is the transformative data science and analytics expertise. This human capital is tasked with designing the intelligent engines that power the advanced measurement systems. The Data Science team builds projections to make the massive raw data meaningful, utilizing software including SQL, Python/R, and UNIX/Linux. For context on the value placed on this expertise, the average base salary for a Data Scientist at comScore, Inc. was approximately $92,730 based on recent data points.

Here's a quick look at the financial and operational metrics tied to these resources as of late 2025:

The firm's ability to maintain and expand its measurement scope relies on these core inputs. The local TV growth, for instance, is directly supported by the MRC accreditation across all 210 markets.

You should review the expected impact of the announced recapitalization transaction, which management noted is aimed at eliminating over $18 million in annual preferred dividends and a $47 million special dividend obligation, as this directly impacts future investment capacity from the existing cash base.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

Providing a unified, independent view of media across all screens (cross-platform measurement).

Revenue from cross-platform solutions grew 20% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2025. Excluding a discrete data-strategy shift by one large client, this growth would have been 35% year-over-year. Comscore Content Measurement (CCM) offers this deduplicated view across linear TV, CTV/Streaming, PC, Mobile, and Social. Brands like Google, NBCUniversal, and Paramount use this content measurement solution.

Offering the only MRC-accredited local TV measurement solution in the market.

Comscore remains the only measurement service to be accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) in all 210 local markets based on big data device tuning measurement. In April 2025, Comscore was awarded new MRC accreditation for household-level TV measurement, covering household, age, and gender "households with" metrics in national and local TV Time-Based Grid reports. This accreditation builds on the prior year's accreditation for Total Household Rating and Average Audience estimates.

Enabling audience activation for programmatic advertising via Proximic.

The Proximic by Comscore 2025 State of Programmatic Report indicated that 72% of respondents plan to increase programmatic investments in 2025. The report also showed Connected TV (CTV) reached 28% of media budgets in 2025, having doubled since 2023. Furthermore, 52% of marketers plan to increase their use of contextual data in 2025, and 80% emphasized the critical need for deduplicated reach and frequency measurement in programmatic environments.

Delivering trusted, third-party media evaluation for planning and transacting.

The financial results for the third quarter of 2025 reflect this evaluation business. You can see the key figures here:

The company reported cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaling $29.9 million as of September 30, 2025.

Surfacing consumer behaviors and trends via interactive tools like The Scoreboard.

Comscore announced the launch of The Scoreboard in September 2025. This interactive destination brings consumer behaviors and trends to life using vivid data visualizations fueled by Comscore's cross-platform data, spanning TV, digital, social, and theatrical viewership intelligence. The tool surfaces timely stories monthly, such as how News dominates local TV viewership across markets.

• The Scoreboard modules showcase data sets on consumer behavior, including Box Office figures.
• Data used includes viewership intelligence across linear TV, over-the-top, and theatrical.
• The tool helps quantify multiscreen behavior for media buyers and sellers.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how comScore, Inc. keeps its key media and advertising clients locked in for the long haul; it's all about deep integration and validated data.

Dedicated account management for long-term measurement agreements is clearly central. We see this in major renewals, like Gray Media expanding its deal to roll out the cross-platform measurement system starting in 2025, including Comscore Campaign Ratings (CCR) and Advanced Audience solutions like Plan Metrix. Similarly, Nexstar Media Group reached a comprehensive multi-year agreement to solidify comScore as a key measurement partner across its local TV, broadcast, network, and digital businesses.

For high-touch, consultative sales for large enterprise media clients, the financial impact is clear. In Q2 2025, comScore closed and delivered on a key contract with a large enterprise media client, which moved revenue recognition forward in the year. Furthermore, core operating expenses in Q2 2025 rose partly due to cloud computing costs associated with work for a large enterprise platform client, suggesting significant, resource-intensive engagements. The nature of these deals involves significant financial commitment, as shown in community transaction data:

This focus on deep, multi-year relationships is driving growth; Q3 2025 saw 20% year-over-year growth in cross-platform solutions revenue, specifically driven by new clients committing to multiyear cross-platform measurement deals. Content & Ad Measurement revenue overall was up 6.3% in Q2 2025, supported by higher renewals and new business in local TV.

The company solidifies its trusted partner status for media buyers and sellers through industry validation. As of Q2 2025, comScore remains the only TV measurement offering available that is both MRC accredited and has been certified by the U.S. JIC. In Q1 2025, they earned additional MRC accreditation of their demos, building on existing national and local accreditation. This accredited status is a key differentiator for transacting media.

For self-service access to insights through interactive platforms, the value proposition is in mapping emerging digital behavior. For example, comScore's new dataset showed that over 30% of the U.S. Internet population was using AI tools monthly as of May 2025, tracking 117 AI tools across nine categories. Also, platform-specific insights, like those from the 2025 State of Streaming report, show that Netflix now sees 45% of its total household viewing hours on its ad-supported tier, up from 34% one year ago. These platform-level metrics help media buyers quantify multiscreen behavior with confidence.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how comScore, Inc. (SCOR) gets its measurement and analytics products into the hands of clients as of late 2025. The channels are a mix of direct engagement for big deals and platform distribution for scale.

Direct sales force for enterprise and local market contracts.

The direct sales channel handles enterprise contracts, which can be substantial. Based on third-party transaction data for comScore software purchases, you see a range of commitment sizes. The average annual contract value lands around $383,987. To give you the boundaries, the minimum recorded price point is $90,000, while the maximum hits $1,014,000. Selling and marketing expenses, which cover this force, were reported at $16,663K for the three months ended June 30, 2025.

Proprietary software platforms and dashboards (e.g., MarketView).

This is where the growth story is right now. The cross-platform solutions, which rely heavily on these platforms, are accelerating. For the quarter ending June 30, 2025, cross-platform revenue growth hit 60% year-over-year, contributing to a Content and Ad Measurement revenue of $76.8 million. Through the midpoint of 2025, overall cross-platform growth was reported at 40%. The MarketView solution, which helps media sellers prospect, is being enhanced through a partnership with Polaris I/O, though broader availability is targeted for 2026. The local TV offering, which is MRC-accredited, continues to see double-digit growth.

The scale of the measurement ecosystem being channeled through these platforms is significant:

• Connected TV (CTV) streaming reached 96.4 million households as of October 2025.
• The MMX Platform suite expanded social metrics to 9 new international markets in July 2025.
• comScore remains the only offering with both MRC accreditation and U.S. JIC certification.

Reseller and royalty agreements for data distribution.

These agreements are critical for both data acquisition and distribution costs. We see the impact on the expense side; core operating expenses in Q1 2025 were $87.1 million, which included higher employee compensation and royalties and reseller fees. On the data sourcing side, a key agreement amendment with Charter Communications, effective December 31, 2024, is providing an estimated minimum $35 million reduction in cash license fees over the remaining term, on top of $7 million in prior credits. This directly impacts the cost structure associated with data access channels.

Here's a quick look at the revenue performance driving these channel activities for the first half of 2025:

Investor relations and public relations for industry visibility.

While direct financial figures for PR spend aren't broken out in the standard expense lines, visibility is clearly tied to product milestones. For instance, the announcement of expanded U.S. JIC certification in Q2 2025 is a key channel message reinforcing their standing as a trusted partner. The company is maintaining its full-year revenue guidance toward the low end of the $360 million to $370 million range, while targeting an adjusted EBITDA margin between 12% and 15% for the full year.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) serves a diverse set of media consumers and participants across the advertising and content ecosystem, focusing on measurement and analytics solutions.

The primary customer segments targeted by comScore, Inc. (SCOR) as of late 2025 include:

• Media buyers and sellers (agencies, publishers, broadcasters).
• Local TV stations and multi-market media sales teams.
• Programmatic advertising platforms and ad-tech companies.
• Large enterprise media clients and content providers.
• Film studios and theatrical exhibitors (Movies business).

Performance metrics across key revenue-generating areas that map to these segments show distinct trends through the third quarter of 2025. For instance, the push toward cross-platform measurement is evident in the growth figures, while the traditional Movies segment shows more modest, though positive, revenue increases.

The segment serving media buyers and sellers, specifically through cross-platform solutions, demonstrated significant scaling, with revenue reaching $12.3 million in the third quarter, a 20.2% increase year-over-year. This growth is attributed to higher usage of Proximic and Comscore Campaign Ratings, plus adoption of Comscore Content Measurement.

The segment focused on local TV measurement continues to be a strong point for comScore, Inc. (SCOR), as it remains the only offering in the market both MRC accredited and JIC certified. This group delivered another quarter of double-digit growth in Q3 2025.

The segment serving film studios and theatrical exhibitors, represented by the Movies business revenue, generated $9.5 million in the third quarter, marking a 1.9% increase from the prior year.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) also serves clients through its Research & Insight Solutions, which saw revenue of $13.4 million in Q3 2025, up 1.4% from Q3 2024, largely due to new business including revenue from a new AI measurement solution.

The broader Syndicated Audience revenue, which includes national TV and syndicated digital products, was $63.2 million in Q3 2025, reflecting a 2.8% decrease year-over-year, as declines in national TV and syndicated digital products were partially offset by growth in other syndicated offerings like local TV.

• Cross-platform revenue growth decelerated to 20.2% in Q3 2025 from 60% in Q2 2025.
• The company noted a data-strategy shift by a customer impacted Q3 cross-platform revenue.
• The Q2 2025 cross-platform revenue was $12.8 million, a 60% increase year-over-year.
• The Q1 2025 cross-platform revenue was up 20.5% year-over-year.

A key contract delivery with a large enterprise media client in Q2 2025 resulted in revenue recognition earlier than anticipated for that quarter.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the core expenditures that keep comScore, Inc. running, which is heavy on people and data infrastructure. Honestly, these costs are what you need to watch closely as they manage their strategic shifts.

• - High personnel costs, driven by factors like employee compensation accruals based on expected full-year performance.
• - Core operating expenses totaled $86.6 million for the third quarter of 2025.
• - Costs for cloud computing and data center infrastructure remain a key component, as seen by their inclusion in the Q2 2025 operating expense drivers. Data costs were noted as lower in Q3 2025, partially offsetting other increases.
• - Interest expense on senior debt is a factor, with an outstanding principal balance of $44.7 million under the senior secured term loan as of September 30, 2025.
• - Professional fees contributed to the increase in core operating expenses in Q3 2025, related in part to strategic activities like the proposed recapitalization transaction.

The composition of those core operating expenses is what matters for near-term control. Here's a quick look at how the drivers for the Q3 2025 expense increase compared to Q3 2024:

To be fair, the company is actively managing these costs while investing in growth areas like cross-platform solutions, which saw 20.2% year-over-year revenue growth in Q3 2025. The strategic review announced earlier, involving Goldman Sachs, also points to ongoing professional fees related to capital structure alternatives.

comScore, Inc. (SCOR) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how comScore, Inc. (SCOR) actually brings in the money based on their latest reported figures. Honestly, it's all about measurement across a fragmented media landscape, and the numbers from Q3 2025 show where the growth is really happening.

The core revenue streams for comScore, Inc. (SCOR) as of the third quarter ending September 30, 2025, look like this:

• - Content & Ad Measurement revenue, totaling $75.5 million in Q3 2025.
• - Cross-platform solutions revenue, growing 20.2% YoY to $12.3 million in Q3 2025.
• - Local TV measurement contracts, showing defintely strong double-digit growth.
• - Movies business revenue, generating $9.5 million in Q3 2025.
• - Research & Insights Solutions revenue, at $13.4 million in Q3 2025.

To give you a clearer picture of how these pieces fit together against the total, here's the quick math on the reported segments for that quarter. Total revenue was $88.9 million, up 0.5% year-over-year.

You can see the story here: the older Content & Ad Measurement segment was essentially flat, up just 0.3%, with national TV and syndicated digital revenue offsetting the gains from local TV and cross-platform. That cross-platform growth is the real engine, even though executives noted that without a strategy shift from one major customer, that growth would have been closer to 35.0%.

The strength in local TV is a key focus, as the CEO mentioned their investment in establishing comScore, Inc. (SCOR) as the premier currency for local market transactions is paying off. This segment, along with cross-platform, is driving the strategic momentum.

Also, keep in mind that the Research & Insight Solutions revenue of $13.4 million was up 1.4%, helped by new business from a new AI measurement solution, but partially held back by lower renewals.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.