Rentrak Announces Launch of OnDemand Essentials for Content Provider Site

Rentrak Announces Launch of OnDemand Essentials for Content Provider Site

- Announces Agreements with Viacom, National Geographic Channel, Expo TV, Ripe TV, NFL Network

- Rentrak Passes One Billion VOD Transactions Measured Mark

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rentrak Corporation (NASDAQ:RENT) today announced that its OnDemand Essentials(TM) Content Provider site is now live and has twelve new entertainment programming subscribers which have signed on for multi-year deals. New entertainment programming subscribers include eight Viacom properties (Paramount Studios, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Noggin, The N, Comedy Central, VH1 and future on demand network offerings), as well as Expo TV, National Geographic Channel, NFL Network and Ripe TV. These twelve new subscribers join Music Choice, which inked a deal with Rentrak last year.

OnDemand Essentials' Content Provider site allows subscribers to access daily VOD content performance data in multiple ways, across cable multiple system operators (MSOs) or by specific MSO. Content owners have access to reports such as Performance By Title, Audience Sharing, Weekly Top Titles and Competitive Performance by Network Category. Data, including the four data points that operators have approved to be shared with advertisers (VOD enabled universe, Total views by set-top box, Unique set top box views, and Total minutes viewed) can be downloaded from the secured web site into Excel spreadsheets for offline use.

"Rentrak is very pleased to introduce its new Content Provider site ahead of schedule with an impressive roster of subscribers. Thanks to the scalable nature of our business intelligence software for the media and entertainment sector, we are well positioned to take advantage of additional future revenue growth opportunities as VOD content offerings increase across cable and broadband networks," said Paul Rosenbaum, chief executive officer at Rentrak.

Cathy Hetzel, senior vice president, OnDemand Essentials at Rentrak commented, "Rentrak is very proud to launch our new site with such a distinguished group of content providers. With the Content Provider site now fully operational, all parties involved in developing, publishing and distributing on demand content have access to a comprehensive set of data points with which to measure performance, better schedule promotions and provide the critical metrics required by advertisers to make buying decisions."

"OnDemand Essentials gives us timely data for all of Viacom's network and studio on demand content on a consistent basis across participating MSOs. We plan to use the trend analyses delivered by OnDemand Essentials to help us better serve our audiences with the content that they want, as well as work with cable operator partners to increase viewing of Viacom on demand content. The detailed understanding of how VOD is consumed is essential as we evolve an advertising business model for free on demand content," said Betsy Frank, EVP Research, Viacom Cable Networks, Film and Publishing.

Rentrak also announced that within the first eight months of 2005 OnDemand Essentials has captured more than one billion VOD transactions from participating multiple system operators (MSOs), already more than five times the approximately 175 million transactions captured during all of 2004. The company attributes this dramatic increase in transaction volume to the growing number of MSOs, an increase in VOD content available for viewing over the participating MSOs and higher on demand usage by cable subscribers. Each transaction measured represents actual anonymous subscriber activity and "transactions" are defined as accessing content to view, stopping, rewinding, or restarting viewing.

Subscribers to Rentrak's OnDemand Essentials will have access to data from all of Rentrak's participating MSOs including Bresnan Communications, Comcast, Cablevision, Charter and Insight Communications. These MSOs collectively reach more than 50% of all U.S. VOD enabled households.

About OnDemand Essentials(TM)

OnDemand Essentials provides cable operators, content providers (including broadcast/cable networks, studios) and advertisers with a real-time transactional tracking and reporting system to view and analyze on-demand content. The product is an extension of Rentrak's Essentials suite of business intelligence products customized for the entertainment industry. OnDemand Essentials clients have password protected, real-time, web browser-based 24x7 access to on demand consumer usage data at various access levels based on business and privacy rules. A sophisticated toolset aggregates and reports data across multiple vendors in one easy to use report system. Clients using the OnDemand Essentials system are able to instantly analyze and interpret their own business data to identify trends, program and promote more effectively by identifying trends, as well as track their performance against the broader business sector in which they operate.

About Rentrak Corporation

Rentrak Corporation, based in Portland, Oregon, is an information management company serving clients in the media, entertainment, retail, advertising and manufacturing industries. The company's near-term focus centers on its Entertainment Essentials(TM) suite of services that is redefining media measurement in the digital broadband era. Entertainment Essentials provides customers with near-real-time, actionable insight into performance of content distributed over a wide variety of modern media technologies. Available by license or subscription, each ASP-based Entertainment Essentials application allows executives to analyze detailed industry-wide and title-specific data to make decisions that enhance the bottom line and provide competitive advantage. For further information, please visit Rentrak's corporate Web site at http://www.rentrak.com/ .

Contacts Sallie Olmsted/Susan Yin Rentrak Corporation 310-854-8124/8145

Source: Rentrak Corporation

CONTACT: Sallie Olmsted, +1-310-854-8124, or Susan Yin, +1-310-854-8145, both of Rentrak Corporation

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

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