• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 12, 2011

Kantar, which offers measurement streams based on set-top-box data, said it has an expanded data acquisition deal with cable operator Charter. The arrangement gives it access to information in five more markets.

Kantar has only been getting STB data from homes in the Los Angeles area. Now, Charter will provide viewing information from boxes in homes in the Boston, Hartford, Birmingham, Stockton/Sacramento and Fort Worth regions.

The data comes in aggregated, anonymous form. Some demographic and "product interest" data is attached. By integrating the viewing information with purchase behavior, Kantar is aiming to move the ball on a single-source data stream that links ad consumption with related sales.

The company offers a separate product that provides data based on STBs in the DirecTV footprint. Bud Breheney, Chief Commercial Officer at Kantar's North American operations, stated that its work with Charter in LA was beneficial to "both the media buying and selling process," supplying clients with "unique insight into consumers."

Getting data from five additional markets is significant, since research companies have often struggled to persuade cable/satellite/telco TV operators to sell STB data to them.