Teletrax, the global broadcast intelligence company, today announced that it has signed a contract with the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, where professional motor racing teams representing 23 nations compete on a level playing field. A subsidiary of Medialink Worldwide Incorporated (Nasdaq: MDLK), Teletrax offers the first and only digital video monitoring and content tracking service that provides vital television intelligence on a global scale to video providers such as entertainment studios, news organizations, TV syndicators, and the advertising industry. Teletrax is a joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG) and Medialink.
Commencing with the first race of the second season, A1GP will use the Teletrax suite of broadcast intelligence services to detect and report on global broadcasts of its motorsports events. The new initiative will allow A1GP to precisely and rapidly understand usage preferences of its video assets.
Teletrax will provide A1GP with evidence of its live coverage and highlights packages broadcast around the world. With the intelligence gathered, A1GP will be able to tailor its offering, improve allocation of its resources and provide precise details of airing coverage to its sponsors.
A1GP is not just another motorsport, it reaches over three quarters of the worlds population and provides a completely new and exciting opportunity for national and international brands to promote themselves on a global platform, said Richard Dorfman, Broadcast Director at A1GP. Teletraxs broadcast verification services are critical for us to better understand our world and local reach, and provide a unique service to our sponsors about the global impact and performance of their brand.
We are delighted that A1GP has chosen Teletrax to provide vital television intelligence on the broadcasts of its live sports events, said Andy Nobbs, President of Teletrax. This contract is a significant win for Teletrax, marking our entrance into the sports marketing arena, and demonstrates the urgent need for sport executives to know the true value of their content.
Launched in 2002 as a service developed by a joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG) and Medialink, with an underlying technology that is patent protected both by Philips and Digimarc Corp. (Nasdaq: DMRC), Teletraxs technology embeds an imperceptible and indelible digital watermark into video whenever it is edited, transmitted, broadcast or duplicated.
A global network of decoders, or detectors, then captures all occurrences of the embedded video being transmitted via satellite, cable or terrestrially and generates tracking reports for the content owners. Reports of individual broadcast airings are delivered online in near real-time to each clients custom-designed portal or in data file transfers. Each clients broadcast activity is updated dynamically, 24 hours a day, enabling clients to respond immediately to reported results such as changes in end-user preferences or detections of unauthorized use.
Teletrax provides vital broadcast television intelligence to video content providers such as entertainment companies, news organizations, TV syndicators, and the advertising industry. The company currently maintains a proprietary network of detectors that monitor the television broadcasts of 1,300 channels from more than 50 nations, including the top 150 markets in the United States, representing more than 90% of all U.S. television households. Its international network comprises 12 monitoring stations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, South and Central America.
Entertainment, news and media organizations both within and outside of the United States that have also contracted to use Teletrax for the tracking of news video, advertising or promotional content include ABC Television Network, BBC, Buena Vista Television, NBC News Channel, Fox Broadcasting, United Nations, The NBC Agency, NBC Universal Domestic Television, Reuters Television, Tribune Entertainment, Advanced Results Marketing, Direct Impact Group, ITN Networks, Mercury Media, Euro RSCG 4D DRTV, Media Review International, and Medialink. A number of other companies are also in active trials with the Teletrax service.