• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 2, 2010

An Intel investment arm last week led a new round of financing for TRA, the ad measurement firm seeking to further deploy a so-called single-source analysis that gauges how advertising prompts product purchasing. 

The company matches second-by-second viewing data, from set-top-boxes, with actual purchase data.

Intel Capital's $10 million contribution came as part of a more than $18 million investment round, where current investors WPP and Arbitron also contributed.

Among the uses of the funding, TRA said, will be adding staff and acquiring more data.

Its single-source metric offers information based on the behavior of 370,000 anonymous households. Viewing data from 1.5 million homes, and purchase information from 54 million homes, generates the metric. Media agencies, networks and consumer packaged-goods companies are among TRA's clients since its Web-based platform launched in 2008.

Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital, stated that "advertising in the 21st century is driven by data ... TRA's solutions align with Intel's goal of discovering new and innovative technological solutions that have the potential to redefine traditional vertical industry ecosystems."

The funding came from a $200 million Intel Capital fund. In 2009, Intel Capital invested $327 million in 107 opportunities.