MUMBAI: The United Nations has announced an agreement with global media intelligence company Teletrax. Teletrax will monitor output of all its broadcast video products. UNTV, a service of the Department of Public Information, provides live daily news feeds and edited features to news agencies and individual broadcasters across the world.

As part of the multi-year agreement, the United Nations will utilise Teletrax's suite of video watermarking, monitoring and near real-time reporting services to monitor broadcast output of all video products including UNifeed, its global news distribution service, as well as its television series, UN in Action, 21st Century and Year in Review. Teletrax's reporting technology will provide detailed analysis on which stories, spots and programs are aired by broadcasters throughout the world.

UN chief of the radio and television service Susan Farkas says, "Many international organizations rely on the UN for information on a multitude of global issues, and often we are the only source of news and information coming from some countries.

"The tracking information we receive through Teletrax's reporting tools assists us in assessing which stories and formats are most used by broadcasters. It enables us to adjust our production priorities to ensure that broadcasters have access to the most relevant material to meet their needs."

Teletrax president Andy Nobbs says, "The UN is one of the most highly regarded world organisations, and we are honoured that Teletrax has been chosen to monitor the output of all its video products, information sources relied upon by so many different audiences across the globe.

"Our ability to provide intelligence on which topics are in high-demand lends invaluable support to publicising international issues, solidifying Teletrax as a trusted partner for high-caliber news and governmental organizations."

Teletrax provides broadcast television intelligence to video content providers such as entertainment companies, news organisations, TV syndicators and the advertising industry. The company currently maintains a proprietary network of detectors that monitor the television broadcasts of more than 1,250 channels from 50 nations, including the top 150 markets in the US, representing more than 90 per cent of all US television households. Its international network comprises monitoring stations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, South and Central America and Canada.

Launched in 2002 as a service developed by a joint venture between Philips and Medialink, with an underlying technology that is patent protected both by Philips and Digimarc Corp. (Nasdaq: DMRC), Teletrax delivers online reports of individual broadcast airings in near real-time to each client's custom-designed portal or in data file transfers. Each client's broadcast activity is updated dynamically, 24 hours a day, enabling clients to respond immediately to reported results such as changes in end-user preferences or detections of unauthorized use.

Entertainment, news and media organisations that have also contracted to use Teletrax for the tracking of news video, advertising or promotional content include BBC, ABC, NBC, Reuters Television and Medialink. A number of other companies are also in active trials with the Teletrax service.