Comscore is becoming Rentrak again! Major news in the world of box office analytics broke this week when Comscore announced that it was selling its box office reporting division to a private equity firm Advaya Capital. Comscore Movies is the industry’s universal system for collecting and reporting box office totals, including feeds from 34,000 movie theaters and 200,000 screens in 70 countries. The $70 million all-cash sale to Advaya was limited to the Comscore Movies division alone, and does not include any of the company’s other business units. Comscore entered the theatrical industry in 2016 with its purchase of Rentrak for $768 million in stock.
Advaya managing partner Anant Gupta announced that the newly independent company would return to its former name Rentrak, which it had used for 40 years before the Comscore purchase. “This acquisition is a commitment to the theatrical industry’s past, present and future. Returning to the Rentrak name reflects a return to the spirit of service and innovation that made this platform what it is,” said Gupta.
There was also the surprise announcement that Chris Aronson, the former Head of Domestic Theatrical Distribution at Paramount and an original founder of Rentrak, would be serving on the board at Rentrak. Aronson has been a longtime figure in the theatrical exhibition industry, with his departure last year from Paramount generating headlines. The dueling moves of hiring the founder and rebranding the company to use its original name are attempts to gain immediate credibility among the exhibition industry by hearkening back to the company’s storied past.
