Rentrak's TV Essentials Service Identifies Loyal Viewer Targets

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Rentrak Corporation (Nasdaq: RENT), the leader in multi-screen media measurement serving the advertising, television and entertainment industries, today announced results from the first report in Rentrak's Factfinder Series of specialty studies which examined viewer loyalty for the ABC and FOX networks. Using Rentrak's TV Essentials service, Chief Research Officer, Bruce Goerlich, analyzed viewing data from the final season of "LOST" (ABC, Mondays, 9pm-10pm) and "24" (FOX, Tuesdays, 9pm-10pm) in order to determine if viewers would continue to remain loyal to the networks they previously watched with these two shows gone from the broadcast prime time schedules, or would they experiment with other network programming during the same time period.

In analyzing the results, Rentrak found that regular viewers of "LOST" and "24" were more likely than the average viewing households to watch ABC and FOX programming; proving that despite a multitude of consumer viewing options, there is still viewer loyalty to networks.

Harnessing the power of its massive TV Essentials television database system, Rentrak created a "LOST Viewer Index" and a "24 Viewer Index."  The indices compare how loyal "LOST" and "24" viewers from last season are viewing TV today and compares that to television viewing of the total population.  For example, in the chart below, a 173 Index for "Dancing with the Stars" means that historically loyal viewers of "LOST" were 73% more likely to watch the show than the general population.

Through the first two weeks of the new fall broadcast season, both "LOST" and "24" viewers remained loyal to ABC and FOX on Tuesday nights between 9pm and 10pm. Rentrak also reviewed Monday through Friday viewing between 9pm and 10pm and found that "LOST" viewers once again remained loyal to the ABC network.  Viewers of "24" showed more diversity in viewing throughout the week (Monday through Friday, between 9pm and 10pm) with CBS programs attracting the highest ratio of former "24" viewers.

"Viewer segment targets can be defined based on any combination of series or network viewers and allow for better promotion and counter programming to maintain or attract new viewers," said Bruce Goerlich, Chief Research Officer, Rentrak Corporation. "By utilizing a massive database of stable television viewing behavior, Rentrak is able to provide new levels of insight to leverage viewing behavior patterns."

About Rentrak Corporation

Rentrak (NASDAQ: RENT) is a global digital media measurement and research company, serving the most recognizable companies in the entertainment industry. With a reach across numerous platforms including box office, multi-screen television, and home video, Rentrak has developed more efficient metrics to be used as alternative currencies for the evaluation and selling of media. Rentrak is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with additional U.S. and international offices. For more information on Rentrak, please visit www.rentrak.com.

SOURCE Rentrak Corporation