Frequently Asked Questions
From Quantcast
What is Quantcast?
Quantcast is a team of web analytics experts building powerful statistical technology to understand internet audiences. Quantcast helps web publishers of all sizes understand the composition of their audiences and attract higher advertising rates, and helps advertisers and agencies find elusive online audiences wherever they might be. This web site allows anyone to view audience reports on hundreds of thousands of websites.
How does Quantcast's ratings system work?
Quantcast's audience ratings are based on the analysis of massive amounts of internet usage data. How massive? Billions of web site visits every month. By analyzing this data we are able to interpret patterns of internet usage and provide the reports that you see here.
How do you collect your data?
We collect our data through affiliations with partners, who include advertisers, publishers, ISPs and advertising networks. All the data we collect is anonymous and contains no personally-identifiable information.
Anyone can participate. Web publishers can obtain refined analysis on their site by utilizing a Quantcast measurement pixel. If you want to help make Quantcast's analysis even more accurate then please become a Quantified Publisher.
What information do you collect?
We observe anonymous records of visits to internet destinations. For a portion of these observations, we have certain information, such as the age, gender or income level of the internet visitor and/or their household. This group is called a panel and forms one aspect of our analysis and reporting methodology.
We also analyze internet log records which include information such as the page viewed and the IP (internet protocol) address used to access the page.
Quantcast does not collect any personally identifiable information???that is, information that could be used to uniquely identify or locate an individual. All of the analysis conducted by the Quantcast system is done using anonymous internet usage information. For further information please review our privacy policy.
Do you cover the whole world?
The demographic audience analysis presented here is focused on US internet audiences. However, Quantified Publishers can obtain break downs of the origin of their audience from all around the world.
Why do you report some numbers in terms of households?
It's a function of how we collect some of our panel data. Many households share a computer and several people may use it. Typically in these cases certain demographics are reported in terms of the head of household.
While this certainly makes interpreting audience data more difficult there are tricks to interpreting the data that can assist your understanding.
Ultimately, the most accurate information on visitors to a site can be achieved via measurement pixels used by Quantified Publishers. If you're a publisher and want to get accurate, Quantcast-verified audience numbers, you can measure your site by following these instructions.
Some of the profiles look imperfect to me. Why?
We're good but not yet perfect. While we see a huge amount of internet traffic every day, it's a drop in the ocean compared to the entire internet. Fortunately, we know enough about the transactions we see and the US Internet as a whole (thanks in part to the US Census Bureau) to use a range of mathematical techniques to adjust our observations to provide you with best estimates for the whole internet. The confidence meter displayed with the data gives you a good idea how accuate we believe our estimates to be.
You can find our more about our estimates here.
If you want to help us improve the numbers then please become a Quantified Publisher.
How can I fix my site profile?
There is a sure-fire way to improve the accuracy of these numbers: by placing a measurement pixel on your site. Add a pixel and let our technology do the rest. Within just a few days you'll see more refined, accurate and representative numbers for your site's audience.
What is a keyword profile?
A Quantcast keyword profile describes people who tend to search on a keyword (or phrase), just the same way a site profile describes people who tend to visit a site. Depending on how much data we have for that keyword, a keyword profile will show the same statistics you see for sites: usage volume, a popularity rank, demographic characteristics, related keywords, and sites that people who use those keywords tend to visit.
I'm trying to Quantify multiple sites. Can I use the same tag?
Yes, the tag is specific to you, not to a site. You can use the same tag on all sites you own, just be sure to tell us about each one by entering it on your Sites page. If you have too many sites to enter that way, please contact us and we'll work with you to get them Quantified.
I added your tag to my site but my profile looks the same. Why?
For your site profile to show as Quantified, you have to place the tag on the site's homepage and tell us which site it is by entering the domain name on your Sites page. When you've clicked the Scan Site Now button and we've found the tag, your site will appear in the My Quantified Sites list, and your profile will say "Quantification in Progress." After we've collected a few days' worth of data, your profile will say "Quantified Publisher" and show the new data.
You must know a lot about 'X'. Can you help me?
Perhaps we can. We regularly work with publishers and advertisers seeking to better understand the audience they're reaching and how they can reach more of it. If you have any special requests, please contact us at
What's your privacy policy?
Our privacy policy can be found here.