With Royal Wedding, BBC America Quadruples Its Reach in U.S. Households

With Royal Wedding, BBC America Quadruples Its Reach in U.S. Households

-- Rentrak Shows Second-By-Second Viewing During the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton --

PORTLAND, Ore., May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Rentrak Corporation (NASDAQ: RENT), a leader in multi-screen media measurement serving the advertising, television and entertainment industries, has produced preliminary second-by-second viewing analysis, through its TV Essentials set top box database, of BBC America viewers tuned into the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. The network's typical U.S. household reach of 5% jumped to 22% during the five and a half hour telecast.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110503/SF94060-a)

Airing in the early morning hours for U.S. audiences on April 29, BBC America televised Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding live and without commercials in a direct simulcast with flagship channel, BBC One in the United Kingdom. Rentrak's analysis compared BBC America viewing during the wedding telecast to viewing during Q1 2011. Based on monthly hours viewed during this quarter, BBC America's audience was divided into three groups, Frequent Viewers(averaging 30 hours a month), Moderate Viewers (averaging 11 hours a month), and Light Viewers (averaging 3 hours a month). This is a typical pattern for a network, a few people watch a lot, more people watch less.

In Q1, Moderate Viewers made up 21% of BBC America viewing households. During the wedding, they accounted for 51% of the households: This was a real accomplishment for the network. Usually, heavy viewers, are always there, light viewers are usually not there. It is hardest to bring in the moderate viewer, the switchers.

Each group showed the same level of interest in the wedding, watching approximately the same number of minutes:

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110503/SF94060-b)

"BBC America provided U.S. audiences with a real-time view of the excitement and celebration of the Royal Wedding; just as Rentrak's second-by-second TV measurement provides networks with detailed, real-time analysis of viewing behaviors to determine how specialty programming resonates with its audiences," said Bruce Goerlich, Chief Research Officer of Rentrak.

About Rentrak Corporation

Rentrak Corporation (Nasdaq: RENT) is a global digital media measurement and research company, serving the most recognizable companies in the entertainment industry. With a reach across numerous platforms including box office, multi-screen television, and home video, Rentrak has developed more efficient metrics to be used as alternative currencies for the evaluation and selling of media. Rentrak is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with additional U.S. and international offices. For more information on Rentrak, please visit www.rentrak.com.

Contacts for Rentrak Corporation:
Sallie Olmsted / Amanda Bialek
Office: 310-854-8124 / 310-854-8151
E-mail: solmsted@rogersandcowan.com / abialek@rogersandcowan.com

SOURCE Rentrak Corporation

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110503/SF94060-a
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110503/SF94060-b
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Rentrak Corporation

Web Site: http://www.rentrak.com

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