Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, announced a strategic partnership with Rentrak, the leader in precisely measuring movies and TV everywhere. Through the partnership, Merkle and Rentrak will combine Merkle’s world-class understanding of consumer segments with Rentrak’s massive and passive viewership data to create more effective customer advanced analytics and demographics.

Rentrak has established a well-earned reputation as the authority on privacy-protected return path media information for video entertainment, on-demand television, and linear television, as well as real-time knowledge on box office sales. With this partnership, Rentrak can utilize Merkle’s proprietary, multi-national database, DataSource™, as a third-party data solution to gain access to the most comprehensive source of consumer data and can provide rich demographic insights about the consumer population it observes. The partnership will also allow Merkle and Rentrak to provide their clients with analytic solutions related to viewership data.

“In the media industry, broadcast and cable networks have converged on the need for a better understanding of their viewers in support of both the buy and sell sides of the ecosystem,” said Andrew Hoeberichts, SVP, General Manager, Media & Entertainment, Merkle. “Our partnership with the leading player in the marketplace, Rentrak, allows us to help advertiser clients get more granular insights on the viewing behavior of their target audiences with the most powerful medium in the world, TV.  This is a new and extremely valuable input to today’s modern media planning activities.”

“Merkle’s rapid growth is a product of our efforts to identify more intelligent ways of leveraging data, analytics, and technology to understand customers and their motivations and use that knowledge to target customers with relevant, effective media experiences,” said David Williams, Chairman & CEO, Merkle. “The opportunity to gain a granular level of insight in TV, a mass medium that has historically relied on broad, imprecise measurement, is extremely exciting. Our broadcast and cable network clients are already seeing the powerful impact of highly focused consumer segmentation, and our partnership with Rentrak will enable them to understand and serve their customer bases even more effectively.”

“Rentrak is very excited to be working with Merkle to power targeting solutions that are revolutionizing the way television is bought and sold,” said Bill Livek, CEO of Rentrak Corporation.