Rentrak, a company specialized in measuring TV viewing, has sealed a deal with mobile TV provider Hiwire to measure mobile TV viewing. Rentrak will provide Hiwire—a subsidiary of Aloha Partners, the largest owner of 700 MHz spectrum in the U.S.—with information on total viewers of video programming and of video ads on mobile phones. This data will no doubt be the ace in the hands of TV networks providing content to mobile TV providers as they seek to sell ads in mobile content.

A trial of the service will take place in Las Vegas this summer, the companies said. The test with Hiwire aims to yield an industry standard for gauging mobile TV consumption, both for programming and advertising. (Hiwire is conducting the DVB-H mobile trial in Las Vegas in concert with SES Americom and RRD USA.)

In a nushell, the goal is to provide “transaction-based measurement tools that will span every method of television, film and advertising content distribution,” Ken Papagan, Rentrak’s president, said in a statement.  Programming partners will also have access to their own customized tracking dashboard to monitor their individual network’s ongoing viewership results on a near real-time basis. (Release)