ComScore to acquire ad verification firm AdXpose, posts Q2 loss

Seattle-based AdXpose’s software-as-a-service technology measures the performance of digital campaigns and alerts clients if their ads have been placed on sites containing adult or illegal content.

ComScore president and CEO Magid Abraham (pictured) said: “In just a few short years, AdXpose has demonstrated clear technology leadership with their leading ad verification and optimisation analytics solutions, which are highly complementary to ComScore’s existing ad effectiveness product suite. Through the integration of these capabilities, ComScore will be able to further its mission to develop the most comprehensive end-to-end suite of digital advertising analytics.”

AdXpose president and CEO Kirby Winfield said becoming part of ComScore would help introduce the firm’s offering to a broader range of potential customers.

Alongside the acquisition, ComScore has also announced a 38% increase in second quarter revenue to $58.1m from $42m last year.

However, the firm made a pre-tax loss of $6.2m, compared to profit of $1.8m a year ago, and a net loss of $8.2m because of costs relating to acquisitions made in 2010, litigation and stock compensation expenses.

Abraham said the firm had revised its forecast for the rest of the year and expects to make a loss of between $8.3m and $8.9m in the next quarter, with revenue of between $58.2m and $58.8m. He said that costs relating to the AdXpose deal, reduced activity by some TV copy testing customers and “exogenous industry circumstances that have stretched the sales cycles for several larger customer transactions” were behind the revised figures.