Digital measurement provider ComScore and set-top box measurement company Rentrak have agreed to trade stocks and merge into one company.
The combination of ComScore’s digital ratings and Rentrak’s TV measurement is a big step toward unified cross-screen measurement, the so-called Holy Grail of modern media planning. Rentrak provides global census-based movie and video-on-demand measurement, as well as passive TV measurement using set-top box data.
ComScore CEO Serge Matta, who will take the reins as CEO at the new combined company, said in a release that the move marks an important milestone in advertising and media. “Together we have an even more powerful ability to deliver what our clients and the media industry have long been asking for: 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,” he said.
Rentrak will become a subsidiary of ComScore, and Rentrak CEO Bill Livek will become president and executive vice chairman of the new company. The merger is expected to be completed in early 2016, pending regulatory approval. ComScore’s stock surged 13% in Tuesday morning trading.
As AdExchanger noted in its coverage of the merger, global agency holdco WPP has a stake in both companies (15% in Rentrak and 20% in ComScore) and will have a 16% stake in the merged company, with the option to by up to 20%. WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell made it clear in an earnings call last month that he wanted to see “greater cooperation” between the two companies to take advantage of their respective strengths in digital and TV measurement. He also criticized ComScore’s main competitor, Nielsen, for overestimating online viewership and underestimating traditional TV.
The deal valued Rentrak at roughly $732 million; ComScore’s current market capitalization is around $1.7 billion. However, Nielsen, which provides the dominant U.S. TV measurement currency, will still dwarf the combined company, with a market value of around $16.7 billion.
