Ratings measurement company Rentrak said it has expanded its agreement to provide local market TV ratings data to Weigel Broadcasting, adding stations in Chicago and Milwaukee. According to Rentrak, the company will provide local TV ratings for stations WCIU (IND), WWME (MeTV) and WMEU (IND) in Chicago, and WDJT (CBS), WMLW (IND), WBME (MeTV) and WYTU (TEL) in Milwaukee. Rentrak already provides ratings and Automotive Advanced Demographic information to Weigel’s stations in South Bend—WBND (ABC), WMYS (MyNet) and WCWW (CW)—and renews them as a part of this expansion agreement. “We started our partnership with Rentrak three years ago in South Bend and use them as our sales, programming and marketing currency every day,” said Weigel executive vice president of sales John Hendricks in a statement. “Their massive measurement footprint, with hundreds or even thousands of reporting homes in every ZIP code, provides us with the reliability and stability that we and our advertisers need to provide schedules that deliver the audience levels that we sell. Rentrak’s automotive demographics are exactly what clients want to see to better understand the value of our audiences and to reach actual auto customers.” The deal extends the Rentrak ratings relationship to all Weige owned stations. In addition, Weigel includes Memorable Entertainment Television (MeTV), a digital broadcaster that offers classic TV shows over the air and via cable and satellite, the Movies! Network in partnership with Fox Television stations, Heroes & Icons and the new DECADES Network in partnership with the CBS Television Station Group. “Weigel’s South Bend stations have really hit it out of the park using Rentrak as a selling currency over the last three years, and we are excited to now have the opportunity to bring similar success to their stations in Chicago and Milwaukee,” said Rentrak’s executive vice president of local market television Steve Walsh in a statement.
