MUMBAI: NBC Affiliate Advertising and Promotion Services (AAPS), which is a part of The NBC Agency -- the internal advertising agency for NBC Universal, has signed a long-term contract with Teletrax to electronically track network promotional material aired by US television stations. The announcement was made by the digital watermarking firm at NATPE 2005 -- the annual conference of the National Association of Television Program Executives.

Teletrax - a subsidiary of Medialink Worldwide Incorporated, is the first and only global digital video monitoring and media asset management service.

The NBC Agency facilitates the promotional and advertising needs of all NBC Universal-owned television entities including NBC network entertainment, news, sports and corporate divisions, as well as its cable, Internet and syndicated properties. As part of an initiative to better serve its NBC-owned and affiliate stations, AAPS will employ Teletrax's technology to help assess the effectiveness of its marketing efforts by tracking local television airings of network promotion spots in the top 100 US markets.

"We are excited to be partnering with Teletrax. To be able to track and value almost instantaneously the material we are sending out will make us even more effective on bigger, long-term projects. We expect Teletrax to help the stations and The NBC Agency increase their effectiveness in promoting the network," said NBC AAPS vice president Scot Chastain.

"The NBC Agency has played an integral role in NBC's enduring programming success, and Teletrax is excited to help it continue its record of achievement. We are pleased that the NBC Agency has joined other leading media organisations, among them NBC Universal Television Distribution and NBC News Channel, two other units of NBC Universal, in recognising Teletrax as an essential business management tool. With The NBC Agency's addition to its roster of blue-chip clients, Teletrax has established the industry standard for the marketing and promotion community," said Teletrax MD Andy Nobbs.

Launched in 2002 as a service developed by a joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands and Medialink, Teletrax's 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" which 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 client's custom-designed portal or in data file transfers. Each client's 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 unauthorised use.

Teletrax maintains a proprietary network of detectors that monitor the television broadcasts of more than 700 television stations in the top 100 markets in the US, representing more than 85 per cent of all television households. Its international network comprises 12 monitoring stations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South and Central America, which monitor over 200 channels being broadcast from nearly 50 nations.

The NBC Agency joins a growing list of leading entertainment, news and media organisations that have contracted with Teletrax to track broadcast video content, either in the US exclusively or globally, which includes: BBC, Buena Vista Television, ABC Television Network, Tribune Entertainment, NBC Universal Television Distribution, NBC News Channel, Reuters Television, Medialink and Australian-based Media Review International.

A number of other entertainment, news and media companies are also currently testing the Teletrax service.