In an important development for stations
trying to build new ad revenues from mobile DTV broadcasts, the Mobile Content
Venture has announced that Rentrak will provide audience measurement for its
Dyle mobile TV service.
MCV,
which is backed by 12 major broadcast groups and Fox, Ion Television and NBC,
is billing the move as the "first-ever, mobile broadcast TV measurement for
local markets."
The
MCV will use Rentrak's Mobile Essentials solution along with Rentrak's StationView
Essentials solution to help MCV members combine traditional TV ratings with
broadcast mobile TV performance.
Cathy
Hetzel, corporate president and president of the AMI Division at Rentrak
noted in a statement that the measurement service would "provide members of MCV
with the opportunity to capitalize and monetize multi-platform advertising
sales opportunities by having broadcast mobile TV performance aligned directly
with TV ratings."
Unlike
other measurement systems that use sample-based data, Rentrak will offer MCV
members census-level data that will provide a more complete picture of the
mobile DTV audience.
"Live
mobile TV is an emerging medium, so it's critical that we take the necessary
steps to ensure it will scale as traditional TV has over the years," said Salil
Dalvi and Erik Moreno, co-general managers of MCV in a statement. "This new
data will provide valuable insight into consumers' mobile viewing habits, which
will be leveraged to drive continued growth for the ecosystem of devices and applications
enabling live mobile TV."
The
MCV-backed Dyle mobile DTV service offering live broadcasts to mobile devices
is currently available in 35 US markets, potentially
reaching 55 percent of the population.
