MUMBAI: Rentrak Corporation has signed a contract with Hallmark channel and Hallmark Movie channel.

The unique reporting from Rentrak’s TV Essentials service, which includes the company’s proprietary Stickiness Index, will allow the network to change the discussion in media negotiations from reach and frequency to engagement.

"Rentrak developed the Stickiness Index as a tool to give networks and advertisers a more valuable metric to measure engagement for linear TV programming. We are excited to partner with Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel during this key upfront period," said Rentrak senior vice president National Network Sales Advanced Media and Information (AMI) Carol Hinnant.

Rentrak’s TV Essentials is the television ratings database currency that measures all networks at a granular level in all 210 markets nationwide. The service incorporates data from over 17 million televisions and is the only fully-integrated system of detailed satellite, telco and cable TV viewing data commercially available.

"Crown Media is excited to partner with Rentrak and use their information from over 17 million TV sets.  They are an excellent source for measurement of viewer involvement," said Crown Media Holdings senior vice president Research and Media Planning Jess Aguirre .  "The amount of time a viewer stays with a program is the ultimate measure of viewer engagement and value to our advertisers.  Over the last four weeks in Rentrak’s Stickiness Index, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel combined to deliver eight of the top-ten programs on cable, confirming that nothing on cable television is more emotionally engaging than a Hallmark Movie."