• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 1, 2011

In what it describes as a "game-changing measurement upgrade," digital TV set-top data audience measurement firm, Rentrak this morning said it was rolling out "Rentrak Exact Commercial Ratings."

Rentrak said the new data metric will leap-frog the network TV industry's current Nielsen-based "C3" ratings, which only measure the average rating of commercials in a TV program, as opposed to the exact audience rating of a specific commercial.

Rentrak said the new data will be available to subscribers of its network ratings service, and that agency planners and buyers will glean particular advantage from it, because they will not we able to "determine how each specific national commercial performs within an ad pod."

Rentrak said the exact commercial ratings are not being offered in its local market measurement system, StationView Essentials.