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I actually got to listen to Joe Shantz from Turner Broadcasting speak about this very issue at a digital summit.

He went through the basic kinds of web analytic services:

Cookie Based (Fireclick, Omniture)
Traditional Panel Based (Nielsen Net Ratings, ComScore)
Convenience Panel Based (Alexa, Compete)
ISP Based (Hitwise, Quantcast, Compete)

He basically said they all sucked in their own way.

Traditional Panel Based are the best. Cookie Based is the next best. And of course you have to pay for both these services.

Interestingly enough, Mike Moran, of IBM fame, told the crowd that although you can't trust the numbers sites like Compete and Alexa give you, you can trust the trend.

I don't know how true that is though, I've seen Hitwise and Alexa give out two different trends. I guess you have to gather as many sources as possible and go with the average.