Post-Newsweek has agreed to expand its agreement with the ratings alternative Rentrak, adding its StationView Essentials to WPLG Miami and KPRC Houston to cover the entire six market group.
"The industry has been waiting for decades for a viable and robust competitive environment in the television measurement arena. With the kind of innovation that Rentrak is delivering to television stations, we wanted to be the first of many station groups to comprehensively support their efforts," said Alan Frank, president and CEO of Post-Newsweek Stations. "We will be using Rentrak ratings as a currency at all of our television stations and urge all broadcasters, agencies and advertisers to support Rentrak's census-based ratings solution."
Frank says Post-Newsweek's contract with Nielsen remains in effect, but that the group will be "aggressively working in our markets to begin selling off Rentrak," thanks primarily to the large sample size Rentrak offers. Frank says the broadcast group had not yet decided on renewing its contract with Nielsen.
StationView Essentials is available in all 210 TV markets.
"Stations are ready and are looking for census- like measurement of their audience," said Bill Livek, CEO of Rentrak. "More and more station group owners like Post-Newsweek are turning to Rentrak to help expand their great industry to the next level."
