CBS Signs Up For Ratings Data From Rentrak

Rentrak said that CBS signed up for its TV Essentials ratings service, becoming the first major broadcaster to use the data.

Rentrak has been signing up clients—local broadcasters, ad agencies, cable networks—for its ratings service at a rapid rate. Those clients, mostly use Rentraks data to supplement the traditional ratings from Nielsen, which has long dominated the audience measurement business.

“As more advertisers move beyond age/sex demographics for their media buying, there’s been a shift to combine viewing data with product-purchase data to create comprehensive evaluation tools,” David Poltrack (pictured),  chief research officer of CBS Corp., said in a statement. “Rentrak’s analytical solutions provide a single-source framework that will lead to more effective use of the television medium and, more importantly, to the documentation of that effectiveness. Working with Rentrak, our goal is to advance this transition to a new era in television advertising execution.”

The CBS deal also includes CBS Sports Network.

“We are excited to add CBS to our expanding client list of networks, agencies and stations and are confident that our Advanced Demographic currency, will make a significant impact on their revenue,” said Bill Livek, CEO of Rentrak.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.