Rentrak has made a deal with MasterCard that will allow the
two companies to combine TV viewing data with retail transactions in order to
give advertisers a better understanding of consumer behavior.
The collaboration will allow local
and national advertisers and agencies, networks and stations to plan, buy and
sell TV programs on the basis of consumer product consumption trends in
categories including retail, telecommunications, grocery, entertainment travel
and quick-service restaurants, the companies said.
"As the census-based TV
ratings currency, clients have the opportunity to combine the stable and
predictive ratings information from Rentrak with the added benefit of analytics
derived from MasterCard's database of consumer spending insights, which will
result in more effective selling and buying of advertising," Bill Livek,
CEO of Rentrak, said in a statement.
Rentrak's TV census-based ratings
data comes from set-top boxes in millions of U.S. homes. MasterCard Advisors, a
unit of MasterCard Worldwide, will provide Rentrak anonymous, aggregated
insights on consumer spending behavior and trends within each category based on
billions of transactions.
"Advertisers continue to
struggle with finding the most efficient way to ensure they are reaching the
right audiences," said Susan Grossman, senior VP, media solutions,
MasterCard Advisors. "MasterCard Advisors leverages real, aggregated
transaction data to provide insight into trends around consumer buying behavior
that helps clients make better business decisions. We look forward to working
with Rentrak to offer the advertising community actionable insights to help
them serve more relevant messages to their intended audiences."
