News28 February 2011

Doctors.net names former Emap group MD to non-exec role

UK— Claudia Arney has been appointed non-executive director at Doctors.net.uk, the online network of medical professionals and owner of healthcare researcher MedeConnect Healthcare Insight.

News28 February 2011

Ex-Arbitron executive Pierre Bouvard lands at TRA

US— Former Arbitron executive Pierre Bouvard has joined advertising ROI measurement agency TRA, where he will oversee sales and customer relationships with networks and stations.

News28 February 2011

MRIA disputes 'crisis of confidence' in polling industry

CANADA— The Marketing Research & Intelligence Association ( MRIA) has taken out a full-page ad in the political weekly The Hill Times to tackle recent criticism of opinions polls as unreliable, inaccurate and far too prolific.

News28 February 2011

Pulse Group adds client development manager

SINGAPORE— Digital research agency Pulse Group has appointed Naveen Bab as client development manager.

News28 February 2011

B2B International reports sales up 12% to £3.8m

UK— B2B International has kept up its 12-year run of growth with a double-digit increase in revenue in 2010.

News28 February 2011

Robert Winston on public engagement with science

“We have something of a crisis on our hands in understanding how the research that we do as scientists… is actually relevant to the population in general.”

News28 February 2011

Opinionology launches Real Customers panel service

US— Fieldwork agency Opinionology, formerly Western Wats, has launched a service that allows clients to conduct online surveys with their own customers.

News28 February 2011

FoI request finds £9m in research cuts across four government departments

UK— Four government departments cut almost £9m of research and statistical data collection spend in the months following the general election last May, a Freedom of Information request has found.

News25 February 2011

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the market research and consumer insight industry. This week: McCallum Layton, Enprecis, TNS, Leapfrog, Sentient Decision Science, Karmasphere, Brand Driver, Ipsos, MarketVision, Common Sense Advisory, Rentrak, Crimson Hexagon, CMI and Cint.

Opinion25 February 2011

Ethnography: Caught between myths

Qual researchers in the commercial sphere often feel they can only do ‘ethnography light’. Kantar Media’s Isabella Simpson urges them to have more confidence, and challenges some of the myths surrounding the ethnographic approach.

News25 February 2011

Comparethemarket.com signs up for Speed-Trap analytics

UK— Car insurance comparison website Comparethemarket.com has signed up to use Speed-Trap’s web analytics service, delivered through partner firm IS Solutions.

News25 February 2011

Web consortium to investigate tracking protection standard

GLOBAL— The Worldwide Web Consortium ( W3C) is to kick-off a debate around the creation of a universal standard and mechanism to allow web users to stop companies tracking their online behaviour.

News25 February 2011

SPA Future Thinking awarded Comic Relief contract

UK— Comic Relief has hired SPA Future Thinking to track engagement and recall of the charity’s advertising campaign in the build-up to Red Nose Day 2011.

News25 February 2011

GfK hails 'excellent' 2010 as sales pass €1.3bn

GERMANY— GfK is celebrating an “excellent” 2010 after sales increased 11.1% to €1.29bn, while adjusted operating income climbed 25.7% to €185m.

News25 February 2011

Wellbeing questions to feature in Integrated Household Survey

UK— A new batch of questions asking people to rate their own wellbeing will be included in the Integrated Household Survey ( IHS) from April, the Office for National Statistics ( ONS) has decided.

News24 February 2011

Rentrak hails 'industry first' data deal with Donovan

US— Media measurement firm Rentrak has struck a deal with Donovan Data Systems to incorporate television viewing data collected from set-top boxes into the latter’s ad planning, buying and posting systems.

News24 February 2011

SAS buys marketing resource management firm Assetlink

US— Business analytics firm SAS has bought Assetlink, the developer of marketing resource management software which SAS plans to incorporate into its customer intelligence offerings.

News24 February 2011

Former IBM and Yahoo execs given MarketShare regional roles

US— Marketing analytics agency MarketShare has appointed two new senior executives to bolster its presence in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region and Japan.

News24 February 2011

EasyInsites sees 16-fold increase in annual revenue

UK— Custom panel builder EasyInsites has reported a 16-fold increase in revenue for 2010 with sales of £557,700, versus £33,600 a year ago. Profit for the period was £46,000.

News24 February 2011

Synovate adds new leaders to Greater China operation

CHINA— Synovate has made changes to its senior leadership team in Greater China with a new appointment and two promotions.

News24 February 2011

ComRes appoints European insight manager

UK— Pollster ComRes has appointed Monika Matyastikova to the new role of European insight manager to head up the firm’s “growing portfolio” of European Union-related work.

Feature24 February 2011

Spend money. Deliver better

Walmart’s investment in a new global customer insight team stands to significantly boost its understanding of consumers and hand it greater leverage in dealings with suppliers, making sure the right products are on the shelves at the right time and at the right price.

News24 February 2011

Banking taskforce appoints BDRC Continental for SME study

UK— A taskforce set up by the British Bankers Association has hired BDRC Continental to run a survey of small and medium-sized enterprises ( SMEs) exploring their financing arrangements and banking relationships.

News23 February 2011

CRE hires BIA/Kelsey for video experience research

US— Nielsen’s client think tank the Council for Research Excellence ( CRE) has hired media researcher BIA/Kelsey to conduct a review of available research on user experience of video formats.

News23 February 2011

ONS consults on plan to scrap household survey

UK— The Office for National Statistics has launched a consultation on proposals to scrap the General Lifestyle Survey after this year.

News23 February 2011

Ipsos passes the billion euro mark in 2010

FRANCE— Ipsos has reported organic growth of 8.3% in 2010, with revenues totalling €1.14bn.

News23 February 2011

Rothenberg returns to IAB following Time departure

US— Randall Rothenberg has returned to his role as president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau ( IAB) just over a month after he left the organisation to join magazine publisher Time Inc.

News23 February 2011

TV ratings body OzTam names independent chairman

AUSTRALIA — Michael Anderson has been appointed to the new role of independent chairman of TV ratings body OzTam, in response to competition concerns raised by one of the organisation’s owners.

News23 February 2011

Esomar unveils draft social media guidelines

NETHERLANDS— Esomar is inviting public comments on a set of draft guidelines for social media research.

News23 February 2011

GfK boss Klaus Wübbenhorst to step down next year

GERMANY— Klaus Wübbenhorst, who has served as CEO of research giant GfK since 1998, is stepping down next summer “for personal reasons”, the company has announced.

News23 February 2011

EU warns of privacy threats from new kinds of cookies

EUROPE— The European Union’s online security agency has warned of the threats to online privacy from the next generation of cookies.

News22 February 2011

Effective Measure replaces Nielsen on DMMA web contract

SOUTH AFRICA— The Digital Media and Marketing Association ( DMMA) has appointed Effective Measure as its new provider of internet audience measurement services, ending an eight-year relationship with Nielsen.

News22 February 2011

Lab42 unveils social network sampling service

US— A new name has emerged in the field of social media sampling, Chicago-based Lab42, a start-up that conducts surveys on samples of Facebook and MySpace users.

News22 February 2011

GfK Healthcare adds three new senior researchers

GERMANY/US— GfK Healthcare has added a trio of new senior research leaders to head practice areas in Germany and North America.

News22 February 2011

A day in the life of Brian

Welcome to a day in the life of Brian Tarran, Research’s news editor. Brian spent the day wearing a FishEye camera around his neck, which is used by research agency Firefish to conduct ‘lifelogging’ as part of its studies.

News22 February 2011

Sermo scoops $3.5m to expand physician community

US— Online physician community Sermo has been awarded $3.5m in growth capital funding from private equity house MMV Financial.

News22 February 2011

Burger King's man in Madrid set for EMEA insights role

SPAIN— Burger King is poised to name Iker Vazquez Baños as head of customer insight for the EMEA region, following a major shake-up of its UK marketing and insights teams.

News21 February 2011

Pulse Group launches apps for Facebook and LinkedIn recruitment

SINGAPORE— Digital research agency Pulse Group has launched new applications for leading social media sites Facebook and LinkedIn as a way to recruit new members for its Planet Pulse panel.

News21 February 2011

Behavioural Insight Team yet to win converts, finds NAO

UK— A unit set up within government to apply behavioural economics to policy-making is struggling to win converts internally, according to a National Audit Office ( NAO) report.

News21 February 2011

Truth names leader for Asian expansion

UK— Truth has appointed Claire Parham to lead its expansion into Asia, which commences this May with the opening of a new office in Singapore.

News21 February 2011

Millward Brown appoints Svendsen as global brand director

US— Millward Brown has appointed John Svendsen as senior vice president and global brand director within its Global Media Practice.

Feature21 February 2011

A private affair

Online fieldwork firm Toluna is being taken private like its rival Research Now before it. Both were good deals for the buyers, bagging them high-growth businesses – and with time away from the public gaze, managers have the opportunity to invest and innovate for the future.

Feature21 February 2011

'When it comes to the NHS everyone has a story to tell'

Louise Tamblin has spent two decades working in healthcare MR and is the new head of research at healthcare specialist Strata Research following a spell as group director at Kantar Health. In our latest Spotlight, she looks at how healthcare research differs from its more commercial counterpart and whether the sector will be affected by the new age of austerity.

News21 February 2011

Cooper confirmed as PM's director of political strategy

UK— Andrew Cooper is to take a leave of absence from his role at polling firm Populus to become Prime Minister David Cameron’s director of political strategy, it was confirmed this morning.

News18 February 2011

Demoscope selects MARSC for panel and sample management

UK— Switzerland-based full service agency Demoscope has signed up to use research software firm MARSC’s panel management and sampling system.

News18 February 2011

Media research veteran Roger Gane to retire in March

UK— Roger Gane, a 40-year veteran of the media research industry and currently a director of RSMB Television Research, is to retire at the end of March.

News18 February 2011

iPinion ports survey app to Android platform

US— Mobile survey software developer iPinion has launched an Android OS version of its smartphone app after introducing a version of the research tool for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch users last year.

News18 February 2011

CACI to hold memorial service for Moscow blast victim

UK— Market analysis firm CACI is to hold a memorial service to remember the life of Gordon Cousland, a consultant at the company who was killed in the Domodedovo Airport bombing in Moscow last month.

News18 February 2011

ForeSee Results wins British Airways deal

UK— British Airways has hired ForeSee Results to measure satisfaction levels of visitors to its website.

News18 February 2011

ComScore sees record revenue, but no profits in 2010

US— ComScore has posted record revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010, but costs linked to severances and acquisitions meant that the firm made a loss during the period.

News17 February 2011

Photon reports AUS$32m loss in second half of 2010

AUSTRALIA— Marketing services group Photon has reported a decline in revenue and a AUS$32m ( £19.8m) loss for the second half of 2010.

News17 February 2011

Top Box and Harris Interactive strike forecasting alliance

US— Harris Interactive and forecasting and analytics agency Top Box have formed a strategic alliance to offer clients a forecasting service for new products.

News17 February 2011

Simulmedia and Magnaglobal combine for targeted TV ads

US— TV ad targeting firm Simulmedia has formed a strategic alliance with Mediabrands’ insight and forecasting agency Magnaglobal. The two companies will produce ongoing research, case studies and recommendations focusing on audience-based targeting.

News17 February 2011

Media Monitors takes majority stake in social media researcher Brandtology

SINGAPORE— Australian media researcher Media Monitors has acquired a majority stake in Singapore-based social media tracking firm Brandtology.

News17 February 2011

Paul Edwards joins Hall & Partners as European CEO

UK— Hall & Partners has appointed TNS-RI chairman Paul Edwards as its European CEO.

News16 February 2011

Arbitron posts increase in full year and Q4 profits

US— Arbitron has reported an increase in both revenue and profit for the fourth quarter of 2010 and the year as a whole.

News16 February 2011

Emnos enters US with Dunnhumby man at the helm

US— Retail data analysis firm Emnos has opened an office in Chicago to serve customers in North America, with Dunnhumby’s Adam Holyk picked to lead it.

News16 February 2011

HPI hires Q founder for Mobilocity task

UK— Q Research co-founder Liam Corcoran has joined HPI to launch a mobile research division called Mobilocity, utilising SMS, the mobile web, apps, location-based tracking and interactive voice response.

News16 February 2011

CMI wins Family Dollar Stores satisfaction work

US— Family Dollar Stores has contracted full-service market research agency CMI to carry out a chain-wide customer satisfaction tracking programme.

News16 February 2011

Populus founder tipped to become PM's strategy director

UK— Populus founder Andrew Cooper is being tipped to become Prime Minister David Cameron’s director of strategy. Newspaper reports say Cooper is one of two new faces set to join the senior team at Downing Street.

News16 February 2011

Jonkheid killer sentenced to life in jail

SOUTH AFRICA— The killer of consumer researcher Klaas Jonkheid was today jailed for life in Cape Town High Court. Elton Smith, 23, was also given 15 years for aggravated robbery and three years for possession of an unlicensed gun to run concurrently with his murder sentence.

News16 February 2011

MTV Networks names Fahey Rush chief research officer

US— MTV Networks has promoted Colleen Fahey Rush to the newly created position of executive vice president and chief research officer.

News16 February 2011

Peruvian pollsters protest over threat to respondent anonymity

PERU— Pollsters are at loggerheads with Peru’s National Elections Board ( JNE) over a rule that would require them to pass on personal information about survey participants, including their names, ID numbers and contact details.

News15 February 2011

Ipsos and Gemius collaborate on MENA web measurement

UAE— Ipsos and Gemius are rolling out website audience measurement panels in seventeen Middle East and North African countries, using a combination of site-centric and user-centric methods.

News15 February 2011

ValueAct to reduce stake in Gartner with stock offering

US— Gartner shareholder ValueAct Capital is to sell off around half of its shares in the company, reducing its stake from 17.5% to 8.7%.

News15 February 2011

Walmart promotes Davis to global insights role

US— Retail giant Walmart has appointed Cindy Davis as vice president of global consumer insights, moving her across from its Sam’s Club discount online shopping site.

News15 February 2011

Millward Brown names Larry Schack chief client strategist

US— Millward Brown North America has hired Larry Schack as chief client strategist, tasked with helping the firm’s business leaders develop key accounts and strengthen the company’s position with customers.

News15 February 2011

GfK appoints Basu and Salles to regional director roles

GERMANY— GfK Custom Research has named Debi Basu as director of Asia Pacific and Middle East operations, while Jean-Christophe Salles takes on responsibility for Latin America.

News15 February 2011

Salvoni lands at Satmetrix after Harris split

US— Harris International’s former international president Robert Salvoni has joined customer loyalty agency Satmetrix as its international managing director.

News15 February 2011

Arbitron agrees extended contract with CEO William Kerr

US— Arbitron has extended chief executive William Kerr’s contract by a year, with chairman Philip Guarascio praising his leadership through a series of “extraordinary” events since taking over in January 2010. His new deal will expire in 2013.

News15 February 2011

Ex-Hall & Partners directors look to behavioural economics for new business

UK— A trio of former Hall & Partners directors have launched a research agency specialising in the use of behavioural economics, called Monkey See.

News14 February 2011

Digital mag platform Zinio taps Webtrends for analytics

US— Digital magazine distributor Zinio has signed up to use the Webtrends mobile analytics package to track usage of its Unity platform on iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

News14 February 2011

Relaunch for ECGlobal's US Hispanics panel

US— ECGlobalPanel has relaunched its research panel of US Hispanics after a two-and-a-half year hiatus, during which time it focused on the development of its Latin American panel.

News14 February 2011

Ex-O2 insight man takes up Harris qual role

UK— Harris Interactive has appointed Steve Reiman as head of qualitative research, responsible for overseeing the development of new qual-related products and services.

News14 February 2011

Ipsos finalises AP senior team with Pall taking top job in India

INDIA— Sonia Pall, a former Nielsen executive, has been appointed chief executive of Ipsos in India – the final senior appointment in the company’s recent Asia Pacific management reshuffle.

News14 February 2011

HP buys Vertica analytics platform

US— Hewlett-Packard ( HP) has bought Vertica, the developer of a real-time analytics platform used by the likes of media monitoring firm VMS, online video measurement agency Visible Measures and health care data supplier SDI.

News14 February 2011

Toluna shareholder makes £161m takeover bid

FRANCE— Toluna looks set to be taken private by an investment group led by minority shareholder Verlinvest in a deal that values the online panel company at around £161m.

News11 February 2011

Kinesis develops barcode scanning app for MR projects

US— A new barcode scanner app from Kinesis Survey Technologies allows research respondents to record their purchases using their smart phones.

News11 February 2011

Forrester's Colony hails 'solid' 2010 performance

US— Forrester Research CEO George Colony said this week that the firm turned in a “solid” performance during the fourth quarter of 2010 and the year as a whole.

News11 February 2011

Nielsen acquires retail tracker MEMRB – but details sketchy

CYPRUS— Nielsen has acquired the bulk of retail sales tracking firm MEMRB for a reported fee of €60m – but both companies are refusing to discuss details of the transaction.

News11 February 2011

TLC promotes Staro to senior vice president of research

US— Laura Staro has been promoted to senior vice president of research at TLC, a cable TV channel owned by Discovery Networks which airs a range of reality and information-based programming.

News11 February 2011

Arbitron and ComScore run three-screen pilots for CIMM

US— Arbitron and ComScore have been commissioned by the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement ( CIMM) to run separate “proof of concept” studies measuring consumption of programming and advertising across TV, PCs and mobile phones.

News11 February 2011

CRE issues RFP for hybrid audience measurement

US— The Council for Research Excellence ( CRE), a Nielsen-funded body whose members include major media owners, advertisers and agencies, has issued a request for proposals for an agency to carry out a survey into hybrid digital audience measurement techniques.

News11 February 2011

Hopes raised for ad-specific ratings as Nielsen adopts Ad-ID

US— Hopes have been raised that ratings for individual TV commercials, rather than commercial breaks, could soon be a reality after Nielsen agreed to adopt the Association of National Advertisers’ ( ANA) Ad-ID system.

News10 February 2011

Market Probe signs up research partners in developing markets

US— Market Probe has established strategic partnerships with companies in Mexico, Poland, Russia and Argentia as part of a push to introduce its customer advocacy research services in developing markets.

News10 February 2011

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: MRSI, The Research Agency, Principles Research, The Interactive Advertising Bureau, Research Now, Decode, Kinesis, Arbitron, AOR, Langer, Vovici and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.

News10 February 2011

Major charities back development of new online panel

UK— Major charities Barnardo’s, Cancer Research UK and WWF are partnering with Clear Stream Research on the development of an online panel which has pledged to raise at least £90,000 a year for the organisations.

News10 February 2011

Jicreg appoints newspaper man Donaldson to CEO role

UK— The Joint Industry Committee for Regional Media Research ( Jicreg) has appointed Keith Donaldson as its new chief executive, a role he will take up in August. He replaces Roger Holland who has spent 20 years with the organisation.

News10 February 2011

MarketShare to acquire performance measurement agency MarketingNPV

US— Marketing analytics agency MarketShare has struck a deal to acquire MarketingNPV, a firm specialising in measuring marketing performance.

News10 February 2011

ViziSense owner Komli Media reshuffles top management

INDIA— Digital media network and audience measurement firm Komli Media has made changes to its leadership and opened a new engineering centre in Bangalore.

News10 February 2011

Dixons Retail insight man to tackle brand research at Nokia

UK— Humayun Rashid, group insight manager for customer experience at Dixons Retail is leaving the firm next week to join mobile phone maker Nokia as senior manager of brand research.

Opinion9 February 2011

Bring on the secret shoppers

Mary Portas’s Secret Shopper is a lesson in the value of good customer satisfaction research, says Jamie Thorpe, head of commercial relations at Grass Roots.

News9 February 2011

Burger King's European insights manager departs

UK— George Davidson, Burger King’s consumer insights manager for North West Europe, has left the fast food firm less than two years into the role. It is not known whether he has another job to go to.

News9 February 2011

Bojole co-founder relocates to lead first UK office

UK— Moscow-based research firm Bojole has set up an office in London to act as a base for providing international fieldwork coverage for its clients looking to expand their business outside Russia.

News9 February 2011

Casro's CIRQ certifies first US panel company as ISO-compliant

US— The Council of American Survey Research Organisations ( Casro) has certified its first company for adherence to ISO 26362, which sets minimum international quality standards for online and offline access panels.

News9 February 2011

'Do not track' bill heading for the House this week – report

US— A bill that paves the way for the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC) to implement a ‘do not track’ programme for people wishing to opt out of behaviourally targeted advertising could be introduced this week.

News9 February 2011

M-Lab founder Williams joins BDRC Continental as research director

UK— Graham Williams, a co-founder of media research firm M-Lab, has left to join BDRC Continental in the role of research director.

News9 February 2011

AMI division boasts growth of 98% in third quarter says Rentrak

US— Rentrak’s revenue and profit continued to shift in the direction of its Advanced Media and Information ( AMI) division in the third quarter fiscal 2011, the company said yesterday, reporting growth of 98% in sales of its media research and data services.

News8 February 2011

Audience research and targeting firm Mindset acquired by Meebo

US— Mindset Media, which produces psychographic profiles of website audiences for ad targeting purposes, has been acquired by Meebo, a developer of social networking tools.

News8 February 2011

Mobile research platform Thumbspeak sold to Cint

US— Thumbspeak, the nascent app-based mobile research platform founded by former Greenfield Online and Vovici CEO Dean Wiltse has been acquired by research software and services provider Cint.

News8 February 2011

EmSense hires, plans new bio-sensory research tools

US— Neuromarketing agency EmSense has bolstered its ranks with the addition of four new senior hires – and announced plans for a new range of services to be released later this year.

Opinion8 February 2011

Community buy-in

Yesterday’s big news was Omnicom’s purchase of online community firm Communispace. Here, Forrester analyst Tamara Barber looks at what lessons the acquisition has for the MR industry and what it means for the future of Communispace.

News8 February 2011

YouGov and Adform partner to test online banner ads

DENMARK— YouGov and digital marketing agency Adform have teamed up to offer a service that provides qualitative feedback on online advertising campaigns.

News8 February 2011

Gartner posts double-digit revenue increase for Q4 and full-year

US— IT industry analyst Gartner has reported a 17% rise in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010, and a 13% increase for the year as a whole.

Feature8 February 2011

Researcher, research thyself

Client demands on research agencies are often portrayed anecdotally as unreasonable, unrealistic or excessive. So Relish Research asked ten insight managers to explain what it is they’re looking for in a supplier. ‘Good, solid research’ was a popular response.

News7 February 2011

MarketTools adds features to TrueSample quality tool

US— MarketTools has released a new version of its TrueSample panel quality tool, which provides more information to help panel owners understand the behaviour of their respondents.

News7 February 2011

NPD and Fusion Marketing expand research alliance

US— The NPD Group and Fusion Marketing have expanded their strategic research alliance to provide clients with information about the produce industry.

News7 February 2011

G4S picks ETS to design employee engagement study

UK— Security giant G4S has commissioned human resources consultancy and software provider ETS to develop its global employee engagement survey.

News7 February 2011

Kadence adds FocusVision technology to Singapore office

SINGAPORE— Kadence International has added FocusVision’s focus group video technology to its facility in Singapore, and been awarded partner status with the technology provider as a result.

News7 February 2011

Rentrak hires LogicLab's Wilson to work with national TV clients

US— LogicLab president Chris Wilson has left the marketing analytics business to join media research firm Rentrak in the role of president of national linear television.

News7 February 2011

Omnicom buys community builder Communispace

US— Omnicom’s Diversified Agency Services ( DAS) division has acquired online community builder Communispace for an undisclosed amount – making it the firm’s second MR-related purchase in the space of a week.

News4 February 2011

MD Corston set to leave co-creation firm Sense Worldwide

UK— Sense Worldwide managing director Nick Corston is set to leave the co-creation agency in April, just shy of three years in the role.

News4 February 2011

GfK Ukraine nets TAM contract extension

UKRAINE— The Television Industry Committee ( TIC) in Ukraine has extended GfK’s contract to carry out TV audience measurement in the country by another two years.

News4 February 2011

Omnicom buys The Modellers to meet analytics demands

US— The Modellers, a marketing research agency specialising in predictive modelling and advanced analytics, has been sold to Omnicom’s Diversified Agency Services ( DAS) division.

News4 February 2011

Havas Digital turns to Experian Hitwise for online insights

US— Havas Digital has signed up to use Experian Hitwise’s online competitive and consumer insights services as part of its offering to clients.

News4 February 2011

Starcom MediaVest Group expands Rentrak deal

US— Brand communications agency Starcom MediaVest Group has signed an expanded contract to receive both local and national TV audience figures from Rentrak.

News4 February 2011

The Readership Works appoints Mal Dale to new GM role

AUSTRALIA— Print industry body The Readership Works has appointed Mal Dale to the new position of general manager, where he will be responsible for developing, launching and managing Australia’s new readership metric.

News4 February 2011

AdLabs to mine Yahoo's 'vast data repository'

US— Yahoo is making a commitment to “advance the science of digital advertising” with AdLabs, a new group that aims to build on the work done by its Yahoo Labs team over the past five years.

News4 February 2011

Mumsnet members tapped to answer Innocent questions

UK— Smoothie makers Innocent are recruiting and launching an insight panel through a partnership with the influential parenting website Mumsnet.

News3 February 2011

Sedulo Group unveils qualitative research offering

US— Sedulo Group, a competitive and market intelligence agency working in the pharmaceutical space, has launched a new qualitative market research service called Clarity.

News3 February 2011

Tynt Multimedia debuts online publishing tool

US— Tynt Multimedia, a firm specialising in services for online publishers, has developed a new set of tools to help website owners see how their audiences are engaging with content.

News3 February 2011

Nine new faces at MMR Research Worldwide

UK— MMR Research Worldwide has drafted in nine new executives since the start of the year, including former TNS research director Ian Horritt.

News3 February 2011

Creston reports 'notable' new business for ICM

UK— Insight and communications group Creston has reported 6% like-for-like revenue growth in the nine month period to 31 December. Its research agency ICM had seen a “notable increase in commissions” over the period, Creston said.

News3 February 2011

UM and Initiative sign up for Interpret's new media survey

US— Mediabrands agencies UM and Initiative have subscribed to a quarterly syndicated survey of digital media usage, carried out by research agency Interpret.

News3 February 2011

Flash cookie respawning 'on the wane', say Carnegie Mellon researchers

US— Use of Flash technology to respawn deleted html cookies may be on the wane, according to a study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.

News2 February 2011

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: Millward Brown, Lowe’s, Nissan, SPA Future Thinking and more.

News2 February 2011

Kevin Thompson joins Ipsos in social media role

US— Ipsos OTX MediaCT has moved Kevin Thompson to the new role of senior vice president of social media.

News2 February 2011

Wittenbraker moves to new role at GfK US

US— GfK’s North American custom research business has moved John Wittenbraker to the newly created role of managing director of corporate innovation and hired James Conrad as managing director of its brand and communications practice.

News2 February 2011

Sinclair Broadcast Group expands Rentrak deal

US— Sinclair Broadcast Group has agreed a new expanded agreement to receive audience figures through Rentrak’s StationView Essentials service.

News2 February 2011

Experian Simmons moves to web-based platform

US— Experian has introduced a new web-based platform for its consumer research service Experian Simmons.

News2 February 2011

GfK beats growth expectations for 2010

GERMANY— GfK expects to report revenue growth of around 11% for 2010, beating expectations.

News2 February 2011

Voxco appoints UK MD to lead new London office

UK— Canadian survey software firm Voxco has opened an office in London and appointed Richard Owen as its UK managing director.

News2 February 2011

Idio acquires social media tech firm Thrudigital

UK— Idio, the maker of a content analytics platform for publishers, has acquired social media firm Thrudigital, which makes websites and social network tools for brands and media owners.

News2 February 2011

PAC buys Berlecon Research

GERMANY— French tech researcher Pierre Audoin Consultants ( PAC) has acquired Berlin-based Berlecon Research.

News1 February 2011

TNS hires Isaac as global marketing director

UK— TNS has hired former Microsoft marketing man Tim Isaac to fill the newly created role of global marketing director.

News1 February 2011

Convio to acquire analytics agency StrategicOne

US— Convio, which provides fundraising services to non-profit organisations, has agreed to acquire analytics, predictive modelling and database marketing agency StrategicOne in a deal worth at least $5m.

News1 February 2011

Six European agencies form international network

EUROPE— Six research agencies in Europe have joined forces to form a network, RedRay International Research Partners.

News1 February 2011

WorldOne promotes Campion to North American president

US— Online healthcare data collection agency WorldOne has promoted Matt Campion to president of its North American operation.

Feature1 February 2011

Order! Order!

Voters and politicians don’t enjoy the healthiest of relationships. Jonathan Knott takes a look at the role that pollsters, and the journalists who report their findings, have played in that relationship. Can opinion research help bring about a new politics?

Feature1 February 2011

Apply with care

Nine out of ten researchers agree that inflated survey-based claims in TV and magazine ads are infuriating. Adam Curtis, associate director of Outlook Research, searches for a solution.

Feature1 February 2011

Plenty to report

Metro’s research director Katharine King on how audience insight has helped the free newspaper carve out its place in a tough market.

Feature1 February 2011

Portable potential

We live in the age of the mobile device. But has research kept up? Robert Bain looks at the market for mobile research, and considers its future potential.

Feature1 February 2011

Hear me out: Let's give away more research for free

Ever had an idea that you know is genius, but everybody else thinks is crazy? Here is your chance to share it with the world of research. This month, Chloe Fowler of Razor Research argues for more freebies.