
Rentrak is a global media measurement and research company serving the entertainment industry. Rentrak is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, United States, with additional U.S. and international offices and employs more than 450 people worldwide.
Rentrak has developed metrics to be used as database currencies for the evaluation and selling of entertainment content across many platforms including box office, multi-screen television, and home video. The company tracks viewing behavior from more than 20 million televisions across all 210 markets. The company is the only company in the industry to provide video on demand measurement, obtained from set-top box data, and is also the sole provider of real-time box office ticket sales intelligence worldwide. Rentrak publishes weekly entertainment charts ranking the top ten in box office, video on demand, DVD sales and rentals, video game sales and TV engagement.
Rentrak began as a nationwide video chain named National Video, which was founded and incorporated in 1977.National Video founder, Ron Berger, developed what is now known as the pay-per-transaction (PPT) system, which allows studios and retailers to lease movie titles instead of purchasing them. The company went public in 1986.
In 1988, facing competition from rival Blockbuster Video, Berger sold the National Video franchise chain and renamed the company Rentrak. In December 2009, Rentrak acquired Nielsen EDI, a leader in box office measurement, for $15 million. The deal made Rentrak the sole provider of worldwide box office ticket sales information for studios and industry analysts. As of Nov 14, 2011, the company passed the 100-client station mark for its local television measurement service and now has almost 200 station clients, across a multitude of station groups and markets, using its StationView Essentials product for daily media measurement.
Mark Cuban, Internet billionaire, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and the HDNet networks, purchased 120,000 more Rentrak shares on Aug 22, 2011 and holds an 8.7 percent ownership stake in the company.
TV Everywhere Era
The entertainment, television and advertising industries are undergoing fundamental changes with respect to how they manage their businesses. As the leader in multi-screen reporting and analytics, Rentrak's cutting-edge measurement technology is in the middle of this change, delivering precise reporting of the intelligence needed to help move the industry forward. By establishing tracking and analytical systems that were never before available, Rentrak has become the measurement currency used by movie studios; cable, telco and satellite TV; local television stations; national networks; advertisers; advertising agencies and video on demand content providers to more profitably grow their operations and more effectively compete in this increasingly complex environment.
With the ability to merge television viewing and actual consumer behavior information across all media distribution platforms, only Rentrak is able to provide the stable and robust audience measurement services on which movie, television and advertising professionals have come to rely to better manage their business goals and more precisely target advertising.
From our roots in home entertainment to our leadership role in video on demand measurement to our position as the global box office authority, Rentrak is the entertainment industry's premier source for knowing — every day, every minute, everywhere — who is going to the movies and who is watching TV. As the media and entertainment advertising sectors continue to evolve, Rentrak will be there, precisely measuring movies and TV everywhere the consumer is watching.