Rentrak On Roll: Adds Sinclair TV, Pushes Granular Data For Ad Dollars

Bill Livek of Rentrak

The big TV station company Sinclair Broadcast Group has signed up with Rentrak's Corp.'s StationView Essentials local TV measuring service -- its second station group deal in recent days.

Sinclair's agreement covers its stations in four markets: WSYX (ABC) and WTTE (FOX) in Columbus, Ohio; WCGV (MNT) and WVTV (CW) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; KABB (FOX) and KMYS (MNT) in San Antonio, Texas; and KDNL (ABC) in St. Louis, Missouri.

StationView Essentials data comes from some 15 million set-top boxes from Dish Network, delivering household viewing data, engagement scores and some syndicated segmentation data for TV stations. However, demographic breakdowns are not included.

"Long-term age sex demographics will be integrated," says Bill Livek, chief executive officer of Rentrak. StationView Essentials TV viewing data is delivered anywhere from 36 to 48 hours after airing.

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Steve Marks, Sinclair's chief operating officer of its Television Group, stated: "Rentrak's ability to measure highly granular viewing patterns, capture information and mold it into actionable knowledge made it an easy decision to team up to be a part of the trial."

Sinclair Broadcast Group owns and operates or provides sales services to 58 television stations in 35 U.S. markets.

Rentrak recently signed up Wichita, Kansas-based Sunflower Broadcasting with StationView Essentials; it's not a test, but a replacement for Nielsen, for three of its stations. Livek says other deals are on the way: "We have a number of discussions and test initiatives we have not announced."

With the deeper access of many set-top boxes, Rentrak says it offers better viewing information for stations. "It's more granular data for stations; they can see what's going on," says Livek.

Rentrak can marry viewing data with retail information from restaurants like Pizza Hut, retailers like Best Buy, or from local auto dealers, adds Livek. He says Rentrak's ultimate goal is to help local TV businesses tap into grabbing ad dollars from the multibillion-dollar industry of direct marketing.

TV Essentials is Rentrak's national TV product -- a service that has signed on small-to-medium cable networks such as Bloomberg Television, HSN, Jewelry Television, WealthTV, Inspiration Network, HDNet, Sprout and the Outdoor Channel.

Some of these networks aren't yet rated by Nielsen. Livek says this product helps them in more advanced ways, especially when it comes to smaller-rated TV programs.

"They don't have a robust system to look at these tiny-rated programs. But they are valuable. You have a highly targeted audience," he says. "It becomes a currency in our complex media world. It pretty much levels the playing field."

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