NEW DELHI: Rentrak has acquired Kantar Media’s America based television measurement assets, according to a press note issued by Kantar Media, which also has an arrangement with TAM in India.
Kantar Media welcomed the announcement which represents a joining of forces between two major players in the US audience measurement industry.
The transaction, when closed, will merge Kantar Media’s existing US television measurement client contracts into Rentrak. This will create the benefits of clarity and simplicity for clients in the US TV ratings marketplace with a single, massive and passive TV measurement ratings service.
Over the coming months, Kantar said that it will work closely with Rentrak to ensure the smooth transition of the US television measurement clients in order to honour all existing obligations and maintain a focus on delivering a seamless client service.
Under the agreement, Rentrak will also integrate its national and local TV measurement with a number of Kantar’s US based services that focus on digital media, advertising expenditure and purchase data. This partnership will provide advertisers, agencies, TV networks, MVPDs and local television stations, throughout US, with even more powerful tools to understand consumers’ purchasing habits. This will enable them to link TV habits with purchase patterns and other behaviour in US.
The deployment of return path data from set top boxes has expanded the definition of audience measurement. Kantar Media developed and deployed the world’s first proprietary return path data service in 2004. It claimed that its RPD services had helped TV operators, channels, advertisers and agencies gain granular insight into viewing behaviour.
This announcement, however, has no impact on any of Kantar’s measurement services outside the US. Kantar Media will continue to operate return path data services in existing markets in Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe. Kantar claimed that their commitment to develop and advance return path data capabilities to TV operators across the world has never been stronger. Return path data remains a cornerstone in their ambition to measure TV across all platforms and devices.
Kantar Media’s strengthened relationship with Rentrak underlines the company’s strategic ambition to maximise the market potential for their areas of expertise in the US. These include the recent launch of US TGI and the enhancement of their advertising intelligence (expenditure) capabilities to include mobile and online video advertising tracking - an industry-first.
