Nielsen TV ratings
rival Rentrak has signed one of the biggest media-buying agencies, Horizon Media, as a subscriber to its “full suite” of TV ratings services, including national, local and on-demand
audience data.
The deal comes as publicly traded Rentrak announced strong fourth-quarter results, including a 38% increase in revenues for the quarter, as well as its first
three fiscal quarters.
The quarter included the closing of Rentrak’s acquisition of WPP’s Kantar unit’s U.S.-based TV measurement assets, as well as a new
“enterprise-wide” local TV market ratings contract for all of Tribune Broadcasting’s stations.
Terms of the Horizon deal were not disclosed, but it is the largest
media agency not affiliated with a major agency holding company.
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“We have seen the value in Rentrak’s granular and stable television measurement,” said Eric
Blankfein, chief of WHERE at Horizon Media.
“We see a unique opportunity to leverage these data sets within our toolbox and marketplace approach,” said Blankfein in a
statement, implying that the deal is not exclusive and the agency presumably will continue to maintain its TV ratings contracts with Nielsen.