Rentrak says it has agreed to enter into an audit of its TV
Essentials and StationView Essential audience measurement services with the
Media Rating Council.
Rentrak's TV ratings service provides daily ratings for
national networks and local stations based on data from 20 million television
set-top boxes. That compares to the thousands of sample TV homes Nielsen uses
to generate its ratings information.
The MRC sets standards for audience measurement for the
media industry.
Rentrak says it has already undergone a pre-audit and will
now begin a comprehensive audit of its services. The completed audit will be
reviewed by an MRC audit committee, which ultimately will make a recommendation
of the accreditation status of the Rentrak services.
Media buying agencies generally prefer to use MRC accredited
services when they are spending their clients' money.
"Rentrak is pleased to be working with the MRC to have
our national and local TV services audited. This represents Rentrak's
significant commitment to both transparency and product quality," Bill
Livek, CEO of Rentrak, said in a statement.
"The MRC is excited to be working with Rentrak in this
audit," said George Ivie, executive director and CEO of the MRC. "This important step
forward demonstrates Rentrak's 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."
