Quantcast is a digital advertising company, specializing in audience measurement and real-time advertising. Founded in 2006, the company is a pioneer of direct audience measurement technology. Their in-depth understanding of digital audiences on the internet offers marketers and publishers the opportunity to buy and sell targeted advertising. Quantcast is one of the top five Big Data processing organisations in the world.

 

History and Overview

Quantcast was founded in 2006 by entrepreneurs Konrad Feldman and Paul Sutter. The company has received $53.2 million dollars in venture capital funding, from investors Polaris Venture Partners, Founders Fund, Revolution Ventures and Cisco Systems. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, Chicago, Dublin and London. 

 

In June 2010, Quantcast’s Publisher Program was the first, and only syndicated online traffic measurement service to receive official accreditation from the Media Rating Council. MRC accreditation means the product complies with the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s advertising impression and audience reach measurement guidelines. 

 

In September 2012, Quantcast announced the Quantcast File System (QFS) to address storage scalability issues in Hadoop environments. Quantcast processes over 30 petabytes of data per day using Apache Hadoop and its own custom file system called Quantcast File System. 

 

In January 2013, Quantcast acquired MakeGood (also known as MakeGood Software), a Seattle-based advertising technology startup founded in 2009. Through the acquisition, Quantcast can improve its services in two ways: first, by further automating all of the processes that are used in reconciliation, and second, by making its data reports more in-depth and increasingly user-friendly. 
 

 

In February 2013, Quantcast opened its EMEA operations center in Dublin. The office, which opened with six employees, plans to add 100 new positions for regional workers over the next two years[11]Quantcast already has a European presence with an office in London, which will continue to play a complementary role to the Dublin operations center, similar to the way the company’s New York and Chicago presence supports its San Francisco HQ. 

 

In March 2013, Quantcast added Measure for Mobile Apps to provide a cross-platform view in its analytics service. The service is available for free, and it offers information on app traffic, how that traffic breaks down by device, how it breaks down by app version, and return usage. 

 

Products

Quantcast Measure

The company, which sets the standard for audience measurement, sifts through its mountain of data – more than 200 billion observations of media consumption every month, a Web visibility second only to Google – to answer both the what and the who behind the numbers. Quantcast can discern who's clicking on ads, visiting a site and making purchases, and then find “clones” of that audience across the U.S. internet population. 

 

Quantcast Measure for Apps

Quantcast launched a new service for tracking mobile application usage across iOS and Android devices in March 2013. The service, Quantcast Measure for Apps, provides data on app traffic, installs and return usage, which enables developers to measure how many engaged users they have.
 

The service also offers information on audience site visit frequency, traffic by app version, and top countries and top devices for a given app. Among initial publishers showcasing mobile app data along with Web analytics in their public profiles on Quantcast.com are Topix, Goodreads and Big Oven, with more on the way.
 

Publishers using the Measure for Apps service can now track audiences across mobile platforms, as well as from their desktop and mobile websites in a single dashboard. Quantcast developed the tool based on client demand for a way to track digital usage across mobile platforms in a unified view. 

 

Quantcast Advertise

Quantcast Advertise defines custom-targeted audience segments based on direct measurement of web properties, enabling media buyers and sellers to find each other online. Marketers can reach consumers that have the highest likelihood of engaging with their product or brand. Publishers use Quantcast Advertise to sell to specific audiences that advertisers want.

 

Awards and Accolades

• 2013 OnMedia 100 Top Private Companies - B2B: Advertising Analytics[16]

• 2012 WIRED Magazine: The 10 San Francisco Tech Companies You Wish You Worked For[17]

• 2012 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies[18]

• 2011 OnMedia 100 Top Private Companies - B2B: Advertising Analytics[19]

• 2011 Business Insider Digital 100: Quantcast Ranked #54[20]

• 2010 Fast Company Most Innovative Companies - Web[21]