Barc (India), Médiamétrie (France), Numeris (Canada) and Video Research (Japan) are working together to align audience measurement operational processes and technical standards across the globe.

These four founding nations account for a total population in excess of 1.5 billion people with a combined ad spend of $78bn – 15% of the worldwide total.

Brad Bedford (pictured) has been appointed global managing director of Gamma. He has previously been vice-president of Simmons Research and spent most of his career at Arbitron (now Nielsen Audio).

Partho Dasgupta, CEO of Barc India, said: “Audience measurement across the world needs to constantly innovate to keep pace with emerging trends. We at Barc India have always been open to learning from our global counterparts and this alliance offers a platform to not only learn from our peers, but also contribute.”

Bedford added: “There is an ever-increasing demand for cross device measurement internationally. We are confident this alliance will be a source of great knowledge sharing and continued learning for the industry.”

The MRS Media Research Summit is taking place on 13th June.