The Digital Download Essentials product is tailored for clients who offer the majority of their online video products on a pay-per-transaction basis (versus ad-supported video content, which is covered by Rentrak's Broadband Essentials product), such as the home entertainment divisions of the movie studios and independent film production companies.
In much the same way Rentrak's home video tracking products record the rental and sales of DVDs across multiple retail outlets, Digital Download Essentials tracks sales and rentals (streams, downloads or time-based downloads with a DRM-based "extinction" feature). The product has an "audit component" which assures content owners that each content distributor accurately reports all transactions and corresponding revenue, and also complies with the terms of the distributor license agreement.
All of the online usage data is sent from the content distributors to Rentrak and processed by Digital Download Essentials. It is then delivered to the client in a series of uniform reports, which are available online in near real-time and may be sliced and diced using a dropdown menu system and filters. Rentrak's "third party" status allows content owners to receive unbiased reporting on their electronic rentals and sales from many disparate sources, in a uniformed manner, consistent with their internal marketing, tracking and billing requirements.
