• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 7, 2012

Rentrak Tuesday revealed what it described as a “milestone” deal with Interpublic that would use its TV audience measurement data as a “trading currency.” The deal, which was unveiled as part of Rentrak’s quarterly earnings briefing with investors and analysts, includes a new TV audience segmentation system targeting “movie-goers.”

The Interpublic deal, which covers Mediabrands units including Initiative, UM and Magna Global, comes on the heels of news that Havas’ MPG unit is using Rentrak data to guarantee deals for client Fidelity Investments based on high-income households.

During the call, Rentrak also disclosed new deals with several smaller agencies, including PrecisionDemand, which is run by Jon Mandel, a former top executive at Nielsen and at WPP, but Rentrak CEO Bill Livek implied that the Interpublic deal was significantly more important than all the others, because Interpublic plans to be “an aggressive user” of Rentrak’s data in the marketplace.

“As a matter of fact, [Interpublic] is requesting that the {TV} networks bring in Rentrak,” Livek told Wall Street analysts during Tuesday’s call.

Livek said that Rentrak currently has deals with agencies representing “70%” of TV advertising dollars, and that WPP is the only big holdout. Livek said he expected to negotiate a deal with WPP soon.

On another media-buying front, Livek disclosed that Rentrak has signed a deal with a major political media-buying entity to use its data during the 2012 campaign season. He said the terms of the deal and the identity of the group could not be disclosed, but he said it means, “Rentrak is very important in this political cycle.”

Rentrak also announced deals with two new networks, Ion Television, and News Corps’ Star TV.

On the local TV ratings side, Livek noted that it already has contracts with more than a hundred stations, and that based on discussions with station group owners it already has relationships with, Rentrak would likely have about 400 local TV station clients soon.

“We’re actually on fire,” he said.