TRA and Experian Partner for TV / Auto Data Link

US media measurement and analytics firm TRA and auto market intelligence provider Experian Automotive are the latest partners to link TV audience data and automotive buying. 'Media TRAnalytics TV Auto Ratings' will automatically match auto registration with TV data at the household level.

TRA's patented Media TRAnalytics solution currently matches second-by-second TV tuning data from set-top boxes in 2.2 million households with consumer purchase data for Consumer Packaged Goods (over 500,000 single-source households) and Pharmaceuticals (over 900,000 households).

The new web-based TV Auto Ratings solution links the make and model of automobile purchases from Experian Automotive's North American Vehicle Database (NVDB) with viewing data for specific networks and programs from nearly 700,000 households.

Recent activity in this area has been hectic. Last October, media monitor Rentrak and auto specialist Polk partnered to integrate purchase behavior and media info, and a month later JD Power and Associates and Kantar Media announced a similar deal. TRA and Experian Automotive's sister company Experian Audience IQ already have an agreement to meld TV and auto data, formed as long ago as September 2010.

Mark Lieberman, CEO of TRA, says the move 'establishes a new standard for targeting, measurement and accountability in the automotive category' while Scott Waldron, President of Experian Automotive, says the partnership will provide clients with a 'better understanding of the market, the vehicles, and the people who buy them'.

Web sites: www.traglobal.com and www.experianautomotive.com .