The company in coming months plans to roll out a “total audience” measurement system that it promises will capture viewing of TV content across platforms, and help marketers compare digital and TV metrics more easily. The combined company’s board will consist of twelve directors – eight from comScore and four from Rentrak. ComScore CEO Serge Matta told AdExchanger at the time that WPP/Kantar had no special rights as an investor in comScore and would not maintain a board seat or receive any preferential treatment.
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Rentrak’s shares rose 13 percent in extended trading, while ComScore’s shares rose 8 percent. When the deal closes, Rentrak shareholders will own about 33.5% of comScore. Rentrak CEO Bill Livek will serve as executive vice chairman and president. The combination could give rise to a strong competitor to Nielsen, which has always been the dominant company providing audience measurement to media companies and the advertisers who support them.
Under the terms of the deal, each share of Rentrak will convert to 1.15 shares of ComScore, so ComScore shareholders will own roughly two-thirds of the merged company.
The transaction could create a powerhouse digital and TV measurement firm that could challenge Nielsen.
After the merger, WPP will have a 16% stake in the combined company, with an option to go up to 20%. With a market cap of $16.6 billion, though, Nielsen will still dwarf the merged ComScore-Rentrak.
ComScore has collaborated on a few cross platform measurement, through Project Blueprint, launched previous year to provide data to ESPN.
The deal positions the combined company to compete with Nielsen, which dominates the market for TV ratings but has struggled to keep up with the shift to online viewership.
“Together we have an even more powerful ability to deliver what our clients and the media industry have always been asking for: a comprehensive cross-platform measurement currency that accounts for all the ways in which content is consumed”, ComScore’s CEO Serge Matta said in a statement.
Still, that hasn’t stopped media owners such as Viacom Inc., owner of MTV and Nickelodeon, from attacking the measurement giant and blaming its channels’ ratings declines partly on antiquated measurement methods.
“Rentrak’s expertise in precisely measuring TV and movies, and comScore’s industry-leading digital measurement capabilities, are natural complements”, Livek says.
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WPP has said it is investments in comScore and Rentrak were part of its push to help clients draw connections across different data sources to better target audiences. It enlisted J.P. Morgan Securities for financial advice and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to offer legal counsel.
