Multimedia Measurement Leads Rentrak Growth

US firm Rentrak has reported that revenues for its Advanced Media Information (AMI) division grew 34% to $4.3m in the third quarter of fiscal 2010, mostly thanks to its Essentials suite of multimedia measurement services.

Gross margin was $6.6m for Q3 2010, compared with $7.2m for the same period last year. This reduction mainly resulted from increased costs associated with the AMI division, specifically a $0.9m one-time expense related to data integration services. Gross margin in the AMI division was 68% excluding the one-time fee.

'Rentrak has been successful in moving our revenue and profit mix toward our AMI division, which is now close to 20% of our total revenue,' stated CEO Bill Livek.

Yesterday, the firm announced an agreement to integrate TV viewing data from satellite firm DISH Network's 14 million subscribers, with its own TV Essentials audience measurement service. Livek claims this deal makes Rentrak the 'first and only' company able to measure satellite, telco and cable viewing in all 210 markets across the US.

Consolidated revenues for the period totalled $23.1m, compared with $23.0m in the fiscal 2009 third quarter. Selling and administrative expenses for Q3 2010 were $7.8m, or 34% of consolidated revenues, compared with $6.7m, or 29% of revenues, in last year's third fiscal quarter.

During the 2010 period, the firm incurred $0.4m in one-time items relating to its acquisition of Nielsen's box office arm EDI - it expects further integration expenses in 2010 and early 2011.

Says Livek: 'Six months ago we established our vision of becoming the leading provider of consumer entertainment behavior and segmentation databases across all digital media distribution platforms, including theatrical, home video, TV, mobile and broadband. Since that time, through a series of recent landmark agreements, we are on track to achieve our strategic objectives.'

Web site: www.rentrak.com .