• by Wayne Friedman , May 7, 2009

TRA, the research company that melds consumer product data and TV information from set top boxes, said Arbitron has been added as a new investor of the company, part of a $13.5 million deal.

"TRA offers critical, bottom-line solutions to advertisers for greater accountability of their advertising spend," said Michael Skarzynski, president and CEO of Arbitron, in a press release.

The company said its Series B financing round also included participation by Kodiak Venture Partners and WPP Group, as well as several angel investors. Kodiak and WPP were part of the company's Series A financing, as well as Venture Partners, a venture-capital firm.

TRA's main product, Media TRAnalytics, grabs tune-in data from television set-top boxes, household purchase data and household demographics for clients to compile audience measurement, media planning and ROI reports.

TRA draws from a television database of 1.5 million households and a single source database of 370,000 households nationwide.