Arbitron Leads $13.5m Investment in TRA

Groundbreaking media researcher TRA has raised $13.5m in funding, led by ratings giant Arbitron and with participation from current investors WPP and Kodiak Venture Partners.

TRA (True ROI Accountability for Media) offers an analytical solution to 'match the ads that people actually receive with the products people actually buy'. Founded by Chairman and CEO Mark Lieberman and ad industry measurement pioneer Bill Harvey (who previously worked as strategy head of the American Research Bureau - now Arbitron), TRA closed its first institutional financing round last August, led by Kodiak and WPP/Kantar Media Research.

The new, Series B financing also included participation from several 'angel investors' who TRA says are well-known advertising and media industry executives. TRA plans to use the funds to grow its sales team and continue investing in its online reporting engine, Media TRAnalytics.

This tool draws from an anonymous TV database of 1.5 million households and single source database of 370,000 households nationwide. Data is culled from aggregated tune-in date from TV set-top boxes, household purchase data and household demographics, to enable TRA clients to run detailed audience measurement, media planning and ROI reports.

'TRA offers a critical, bottom-line solution to advertisers for greater accountability of their advertising spend,' said Arbitron's President and CEO Michael Skarzynski. 'We're excited about the TRA solution, which promises to bring much-needed transparency to advertisers, agencies and media companies in a time that requires ROI insights.'

TRA's clients include TV networks, consumer packaged goods companies and agencies such as MediaVest, a subsidiary of Paris-based Publicis Groupe which was TRA's first agency to license Media TRAnalytics.

Lieberman says he is thrilled to attract Arbitron as an investor and Board member.

Web site: www.traglobal.com .