Western Wats, Respondi, iVox, Norstat, Netquest and OMI have set up Proximity Panels, which boasts access to a total of nearly six million panellists in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the UK and the US.

“After years of intensive cooperation between the partners, the time was right to start working together on a highly structured and integrated level,” said iVox’s Steven Deketelaere, who is chairman of the Proximity Panels JV. “Since many of us work for the same international clients, we can now supply them with an efficient access to all of our panellists at the most competitive conditions and best pricing levels.”

The joint venture conducted one of its first projects around the appointment of the president of the European Council, surveying 14,000 people in 17 countries.