Metrics merger sees comScore acquire Rentrak

Audience measurement group ComScore has agreed to acquire movie and TV viewership tracker Rentrak, in a move to enlarge its scope of tracking solutions for media content and advertising across TV, websites and mobile devices. By combining comScore's digital audience and ad solutions with Rentrak's movie and video-on-demand and TV measurement offerings, the acquisition aims to provide a more comprehensive and precise set of solutions for measuring media consumption and advertising across platforms, following the consumer whenever and wherever content is consumed. The move will also close to gap on its main rival Nielsen, which holds a market-leading position on TV audience ratings right around the globe.Under the stock-for-stock deal, Rentrak will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of comScore. comScore CEO Serge Matta, said the acquisition recognises the importance of combining digital and TV assets for media measurement development, which requires a higher degree of precision at both a national and local market level."With the advent of digital technology, the time has come to offer the cross-platform measurement systems of the future: through which content owners will ultimately be able to quantify their entire audience, and agencies will have access to the cross-platform metrics needed to effectively plan and execute campaigns," he said.He added the merger allows a "comprehensive cross-platform measurement currency that accounts for all the ways in which content is consumed, whether that happens on a desktop, mobile device, live or time-shifted TV, video on demand or through over-the-top devices."