• by David Goetzl , December 3, 2012

Rentrak, which relies heavily on set-top-box data for TV measurement services, said it is moving forward with efforts to gain accreditation for them by the Media Rating Council (MRC), saying it will begin the audit process. No services that employ set-top-box (STB) data have received accreditation from the MRC.

Audits are conducted by an independent accounting firm and industry researchers -- if not media buyers and sellers -- often look to the MRC for some validation of a measurement service’s sturdiness. The MRC audits measurement processes in all sorts of media fields, including the Internet and radio.

Rentrak has moved through a pre-audit in what can be a lengthy accreditation process and it is looking for accreditation for its services used in the national and local TV markets.

George Ivie, CEO of the MRC, stated that Rentrak is showing a “commitment to transparency, and we look forward to completing the audit on a timely basis and in so doing, help the industry better understand how new forms of data collection and projection are being used in television measurement.”

As Rentrak pursues MRC accreditation, it continues to land more clients, as it has at least 200 local stations using its StateView Essentials service that can offer second-by-second viewing data. It gathers its data from Dish Network, AT&T and several cable operators and bills itself as the only measurement service using data from a satellite, telco TV and cable operator.