News headlines
2009 was 'dismal' for top 25 with revenue down 3.1%, says Honomichl
US— The research industry’s top 25 agencies saw their 15-year run of growth come to an end last year, with total revenues for the group down 3.1% to $17.4bn.
Casro forms social media research task force
US— The Council of American Survey Research Organisations (Casro) has formed a social media research task force to get to grips with the ethical and methodological issues surrounding the use of social networks and blogs for gaining consumer insight.
Progressive Digital Media buys beverage researcher Canadean
UK— Progressive Digital Media (PDM) has acquired Canadean, a market research business specialising in the beverage industry, for £9m in cash and the issue of 6.9m new PDM shares.
Online analytics firm Nedstat sold to ComScore in €29m deal
US— ComScore has acquired Dutch online analytics firm Nedstat in a deal worth €29.2m ($36.7m), boosting its European presence and potentially adding census-level data from thousands of sites to its Unified Digital Measurement (UDM) platform.
Harte-Hanks acquires data specialist Information Arts
US— Direct and targeted marketing agency Harte-Hanks has acquired UK-based database marketing and analytics firm Information Arts.
Half-year turnover up 6% at Discovery Group
UK— Turnover at Discovery Group was up 6.5% to £1.46m in the first six months of 2010, while profits shot up 28% year-on-year to £175,000.
Stratigent names new president and COO
US— Web analytics and marketing optimisation consultancy Stratigent has named Bill Bruno and Jennifer Veesenmeyer as president and chief operations officer respectively.
Dieringer Research acquires Lein/Spiegelhoff customer base
US— Wisconsin-based full service agency The Dieringer Research Group has acquired field service agency Lein/Spiegelhoff’s customer base after the latter company closed down.
Chartbeat gets $3m to support realtime analytics service
US— Chartbeat, the developer of a realtime website analytics service, has secured $3m in financing from a host of investors, led by Index Ventures. The company has been running for just over a year and customers include Time.com, the New York Times and Gawker Media.
Former MRS chairman Andrew McIntosh dies aged 77
UK— Former Market Research Society president and chairman Andrew McIntosh, Lord McIntosh of Haringey, died on Friday aged 77 after a battle with cancer.
Cross-Tab makes client service hire, adds advisory board member
US— Market research outsourcing agency Cross-Tab has appointed Tom Paul as AVP of client services and added former Esomar president Fredrik Nauckhoff to its advisory board.
Truth invests in creative partnership with Socio Design
UK— Strategic insight consultancy Truth has acquired a stake in creative agency Socio Design, and the two companies plan to integrate their offers over the next 12 months.
Synovate promotes Iberia MD to regional CEO
US— Synovate has promoted Enrique Domingo, its managing director for Iberia, to CEO of Iberia and Latin America, replacing Ignacio Galceran.
Alterian inks $11m deal to buy social media analytics firm Intrepid
UK— Alterian, a marketing software and services firm, has acquired market research and social media analytics consultancy Intrepid in a cash and shares deal worth up to $11.5m.
Double MRS Gold Medal winner Andrew Ehrenberg dies at 84
UK— Market researcher and two-time winner of the Market Research Society’s Gold Medal Andrew Ehrenberg died last week aged 84.
TV ratings body Barb appoints research director
UK— The Broadcasters Audience Research Board (Barb) has appointed Joe Lewis as its new research manager following the promotion of Simon Bolus to research director earlier this year.
Healthcare specialist WorldOne opens Tokyo office
JAPAN— Healthcare market research and data collection agency WorldOne has opened an office in Tokyo, which will be led by Katsuhiko Niga and Takahito Asano.
Shanker names new North American management for Ipsos Observer
US— Ipsos Observer president David Shanker is readying a three-pronged assault on the North American marketplace, naming new local leaders for the survey management, data collection and delivery business.
Mediation fails to solve Sunbeam and Nielsen antitrust row
US— Nielsen and Sunbeam Television moved a step closer to a courtroom showdown after a mediation session failed to solve the legal dispute between the pair.
Web performance analytics firm Yottaa bags $4m in financing
US— Website performance analytics company Yottaa has closed its first round of funding, raising $4m from venture capital firms General Catalyst Partners, Stata Venture Partners and CambridgeWest Ventures.
Saxena returns to Synovate in data collection role
INDIA— Sunil Saxena has rejoined Synovate in the role of director with responsibility for the firm’s fieldwork operations in the country. He reports to Mick Gordon, managing director of Synovate India.
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Gravitas Ventures picks Rentrak for on-demand audience measurement
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Invoke Solutions raises $1.75m
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BT Retail promotes insight chief to marketing role
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MRS consults on updated kids and online research guidelines
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Editor's note
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Starcom MediaVest signs up to ACB Media Lab study
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Loudpixel's Levee looks to calm flood of social media data
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GMI and TXT4CRM link for mobile research
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Chime research businesses see improvement
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OzTam to appoint independent chairman after member dispute
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Synovate buoyed by improving market, revenue up 6%
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2CV picks up ITV tracking tasks again
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Marketing Management Analytics names Kim analytics officer
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People on the move
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MarketShare Partners snaps up JovianData
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Specific Media hit with Flash cookie suit
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MarketTools appoints Zoomerang EVP and general manager
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Netquest unveils 17 new Latin American panels
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Dutch media research bodies create cross-media survey
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CNN to use Arbitron data in Starcom out-of-home TV deal