• by David Goetzl , February 8, 2010

As Rentrak looks to expand its ratings service for local TV, CEO Bill Livek indicated that the strategy is inking a deal with a station group in a market, and then persuading competitors to follow.

On Monday, he said the leverage approach is working in the Columbus, Ohio market (DMA 34). In December, the Sinclair group reached an agreement to receive its StationView Essentials data for its ABC and Fox stations. Not long after, the Lin group followed for the CW station.

And now, Media General is on board for the NBC affiliate. Rentrak plans to announce that deal on Wednesday.

Livek said 70% of the viewing taking place in Columbus' 900,000 homes each week is monitored by Rentrak.

Columbus is the only market where Rentrak has more than one station purchasing the fledgling second-by-second data. Propelled by Sinclair -- which receives the StationView Essentials data in four markets -- there are 12 stations in five DMAs receiving it.

Garnered from set-top boxes, the data provides stations' guidance on viewing trends, which can be used to pitch advertisers or perhaps serve as a currency. Unlike Nielsen, StationView Essentials can provide commercial performance information in local markets -- including how DVR-enabled viewing may lead to ad-skipping.

Still, that is only believed to be at the household level, without demographic breakdowns.

Rentrak says StationView can provide local second-by-second data in all 210 markets.

CEO Livek spoke an earnings call, where Rentrak reported that the operations with the branded "Essentials" services saw revenues in the October-December period increase 34% (to $4.3 million). It's a small but growing part of the company's business, where the majority of revenues still come from tracking the home entertainment market.

Rentrak draws StationView data from homes served by AT&T U-verse, Charter Communications and Dish Network. The company has had access to Dish data for some time, but announced Monday that it has rights to sell it to stations as part of its services.

That deal is believed to help send its stock price up 10% Monday to the $17 range.

Livek said Rentrak is the only measurement service able to offer networks and advertisers data from homes that subscribe to cable, satellite and telco TV service.

"This will allow us to provide advertisers and their agencies with a holistic view of detailed viewing behaviors," he said on the earnings call.

Its cable sample, however, comes from only about 300,000 homes served by Charter Communications in the Los Angeles market.

Overall, Livek said Rentrak draws data from 15 million sets, but it's not known how many are Dish or AT&T homes.

Beyond local markets, Rentrak provides data for national networks through its TV Essentials service (StationView is a derivative of that). Livek said Rentrak has initially focused on networks that don't subscribe to Nielsen ratings -- such as Bloomberg Television - as clients, but is now looking to expand to larger networks.

In the 2009 October-December period, the company division with the "Essentials" products produced 19% of Rentrak's $23.1 million in revenues. The company swung to a net loss of $579,000 in the quarter.

The "Essentials" products track mobile and Internet usage, among other consumer behaviors.