Portland’s MeasureCast Inks Deal with Zenith Media

Portland-based MeasureCast, Inc., which provides Internet radio broadcasters with next-day audience size and demographics reports, has inked a deal with Zenith Media Services, Inc., a global media buying and planning service. According to MeasureCast VP of Marketing Bill Piwonka, other deals with key media players are expected to be announced shortly.

New York-based Zenith will be specifically using MeasureCasts’ Streaming Audience Measurement Service (SAMS).

The SAMS system employs the company’s patent-pending Active Event Monitoring, a server-side technology, to record the exact number of streams requested from an Internet broadcaster’s streaming server. Reports are available to customers within 24 hours of a webcast.

According to Piwonka, SAMS supports Microsoft Windows Media Technologies and RealNetworks RealSystem servers. In addition to tracking the number of listeners, the company also uses an opt-in to gather from listeners additional information such as age and gender.

“We believe this new delivery system is becoming an important part of the media landscape. We are using MeasureCast Inc. because it serves as another auditing tool to give us third-party audience information which helps us make informed decisions and recommendations to our clients,” says Matt Feinberg, Vice President/Manager of Radio National Broadcast, Zenith Media.

According to MeasureCast CEO Ed Hardy, having access to next-day audience and demographics reports will enable Zenith to make intelligent media buying decisions on behalf of their clients.

However, turns out that SAMS is not just useful to buyers and sellers of media. Piwonka notes that SAMS is also an excellent tool for radio station programmers and producers. “It’s a great way for them to immediately see what is resonating with listeners,” says Piwonka.

MeasureCast, which will be celebrating the one-year anniversary of its SAMS launch later this Summer, provides on its Web site information on online radio listenership trends. It also provides a weekly top 25 and monthly top 50 radio listenership report at: www.measurecast.com.