Internet Captures Market Share from Traditional Agents in Purchase of Auto Insurance Policies

Comscore Study Finds Consumers are Increasingly Turning to the Internet to Research Auto Insurance Options, Obtain Rate Quotes and Purchase Policies

RESTON, VA, May 12, 2008 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released results of The 2008 Comscore Online Automobile Insurance Report, which provides insights into the online auto insurance market and the behaviors and attitudes of auto insurance consumers. The report is based on behavioral data collected from Comscore’s panel of 1 million U.S. consumers during 2007 and a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. Internet users conducted during the third week of March 2008. The study results are summarized below and will be presented in greater depth during a free, public webinar on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 2:00 PM EST (details below).

The study revealed that consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet to purchase auto insurance policies. In fact, fifteen percent of respondents reported purchasing their current policy via the online channel, a 3-percentage point gain versus the previous year. Meanwhile, the traditional agent channel saw a corresponding decline in market share, decreasing 3 points to 53 percent of total policies purchased.

“Purchasing with a local agent has historically been the dominant method by which people purchased auto insurance,” said Kevin Levitt, Comscore vice president. “While it still remains the primary method, these latest findings show us that the landscape is beginning to change, with more and more consumers turning from traditional, offline channels to the Internet.”

Consumers Most Often Turn to the Internet after Seeing an Advertisement

Consumers were also asked what action they would take if they wanted more information after seeing an auto insurance advertisement, with 75 percent of respondents indicating they would turn to the Internet. A notable percentage of consumers said they would either visit the Web site specified in the ad (26 percent), use search to find a company Web site (22 percent), visit the company Web site (20 percent) or look online at another Web site to find contact information (8 percent).

Consumers Value an Agent but Still Rely on Internet

The study also found that even consumers who bought a policy through an agent still rely on the Internet to obtain information about auto insurance. Nearly 80 percent of consumers who purchased through an agent said they value having an agent, and of those consumers nearly 40 percent have received a rate quote online and 30 said they would purchase a policy online in the future.

Added Mr. Levitt, “It’s clear that the Internet channel is integral to the process of purchasing auto insurance – even for consumers who tend to rely more heavily on their agents.”

Comscore Auto Insurance Solutions provides insight into online quoting, purchasing, and servicing activity. Comscore’s products include competitive benchmarking, source of traffic analyses, abandonment studies, site usage analyses, search marketing, audience profiling and segmentation, surveys and online focus groups, and the measurement of advertising effectiveness.

For more information about Comscore capabilities, please visit http://www.comscore.com/request/auto_insurance_solutions.asp.

About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.