Rentrak Reports Ratings For The Third 2012 Presidential Debate Across All Broadcast & Cable Networks

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Rentrak Corporation (NASDAQ: RENT), the leader in multi-screen media measurement serving the advertising, television and entertainment industries, today announced ratings information from Monday night's presidential debate, the third and final meeting between President Obama and GOP candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

The format for Monday's debate, which took place in the battleground state of Florida, was divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each to discuss topics that were selected by the moderator, CBS correspondent, Bob Schieffer.  

The total viewing audience for the third debate was 44.8 million households which fell from 48.0 million viewing households during the second debate. There were 49.1 million households who tuned in to watch first debate earlier this month.

In terms of the traditional average audience rating, the third debate garnered a 26.5 versus 31.2 for the first debate and 31.7 during the second debate.  The average time spent viewing the debate also fell, down to 67.7% of minutes compared to 75.7% of minutes during the second debate, which was up from 73.0% of the first debate.  The audience just didn't stay tuned in as long with this last debate.

Bruce Goerlich, Chief Research Officer at Rentrak said, "Debate viewership dropped across all the debates, with the holding power dropping considerably in the third debate."

In a report of selected markets chosen by Rentrak, the information showed that 11 of the 26 selected markets held steady or increased viewership between the second and third debates with West Palm Beach, Florida showing the biggest jump in viewership.

Below is a table of key markets and a second-by-second TV viewing graph from each of the three presidential debates.

Selected TV Market Viewing Results:

Numbers above 100 = higher than the U.S. Average
Numbers below 100 = lower than the U.S. Average

Second-by-Second Ratings Graph for All Three Debates:

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121023/LA98676)

Rentrak's television ratings measurement service provides daily measurement of all TV networks nationally and at a granular level for TV stations in all 210 media markets nationwide. The service incorporates information from over 20 million televisions and is the only fully integrated system of detailed satellite, telco and cable TV viewing data commercially available.

About Rentrak Corporation

Rentrak (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 census-based and census-like 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.

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Contacts for Rentrak Corporation:
Sallie Olmsted / Jim Hughes
Office: 310-854-8124 / 310-854-8275
E-mail: solmsted@rogersandcowan.com / jhughes@rogersandcowan.com

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111007/MM82941LOGO)

SOURCE Rentrak Corporation