Rentrak And comScore To Merge Creating Broad Media Measurement Firm

In a surprise move that will reverberate across the world of analytics and audience measurement, comScore and Rentrak have announced a merger. Both companies are public.

They explained in their joint release that they’re merging to bring improved cross-platform measurement to the industry: “TV, video on demand, desktop, mobile, over-the-top devices, or in the movie theater.” Rentrak measures TV and film, while comScore offers comprehensive digital ad and audience measurement.

The increasing fragmentation and complexity of consumer behavior and the need for better visibility and attribution are the motivating factors behind the merger. The combination will provide a nearly comprehensive media measurement system.

Despite its breadth, there are a couple of areas where the two won’t have a solution. Arguably the most important is online to offline/in-store measurement.

Accordingly, I would expect the combined company to look to acquire an offline or location analytics company in the near term to plug that hole. Among the firms that may be on such a short list are PlaceIQ, Placed and NinthDecimal.

Postscript: I was remind by Ginny Marvin that the Verizon-AOL merger has also created an analytics (and targeting) powerhouse. Verizon knows where its wireless customers live (billing address) and where they are at all times (location awareness). That data yields Census-based and other insights about income and demographics. Location can also be used for audience segmentation and, combined with AOL’s online data, for targeting and attribution purposes.