• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 9, 2012

(Editor's Note: This story has been updated with a clarification from a Crown Media Holdings spokesperson stating that its exploration of Rentrak "ratings guarantees" is entirely internal and that it does not plan to offer them to advertisers anytime soon, if ever.)

Cable network operator Crown Media Holdings this morning unveiled a long-term contract with Rentrak to use its TV Essentials TV ratings, and said it would offer “dual ratings guarantees” to advertisers and agencies buying its Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel networks during the 2012-13 upfront advertising marketplace. The deals include Rentrak's proprietary "stickiness index," which measures the ability of networks and programs to engage and retain TV viewers.

Ed Georger, executive vice president-advertising sales at Crown Media Holdings, said the deal represents an expansion of a previous agreement with Rentrak covering only part of its TV ratings services, and that Crown upped the ante “so that Hallmark could explore dual guarantees for its networks.”

Rentrak’s TV Essentials service is based on what it calls “census-based" data derived directly from 19 million digital TV set-top boxes. Among other things, it enables advertisers and agencies to post their network TV buys on the basis of “exact” TV commercial ratings, and several major ad agencies have also agreed to use it on that basis.