Sinotrak to measure TV viewership via 155 million set-top boxes in China

On 1 June, the Chinese government awarded Sinotrak a license to measure all forms of video screens from multiple digital devices. The initial screens to be measured will be linear (not time-shifted or on-demand) TV through set-top boxes. 

The Chinese TV market has 1,815 TV stations and there are approximately 155 million digital set-top-boxes in use throughout China.

Sinotrak states it is the first company to deliver quantitative TV viewership information based on census-level data combined with targeting capabilities across the entire country—versus the unstable, broad-brush data from traditional sampling approaches.

Its measurement products will be built on the software platform used in Portland-based Rentrak's United States TV Essentials service, which gathers anonymous TV usage data.

Sinotrak will aim to give advertisers, agencies, stations and networks the choice to make ad buys based on demographics beyond age and sex, as well as their product usage information.

"China needs a 21st-century measurement for TV viewership," said Michael Wen, CEO of Sinomonitor. "We selected Rentrak because of the company's impressive track record of successfully handling billions of TV datapoints on a very timely and accurate basis."

In addition, Sinotrak's TV measurements will produce "more granular and more stable ratings, allowing the industry to maximize the value of all Chinese TV inventory," he added.