Acquisitions/transactions 

Circana has entered a formal agreement to acquire research firm Golf Datatech.   

Retail customer analytics company Buxton has acquired conversion tracking solution Elevar to improve its consumer insights.

Customer experience solutions company Nextiva has acquired contact center software company Thrio. 

Payment solutions company Blackhawk Network has entered a definitive agreement to acquire digital rewards and payments platform Tango Card.

Data and AI company Databricks has acquired Einblick Analytics to improve its generative AI portfolio. 

B2B data services company Rhetorik has acquired B2B marketing company 1 Stop Data. 

Ironwood Insights Group has acquired qualitative research firms Observation Baltimore and The Research Group. Barbara Gassaway, president and founder of both firms, will join the Ironwood Insights team.

Health care and life sciences firm Apollo Intelligence has acquired health care research services and panel company GlocalMind to expand its clinical panel sourcing capabilities and its ability to perform multicountry research. 

Customer service improvement company Dive has acquired mystery shopping company Shoptimizer. 

Alliances/strategic partnerships 

Data solutions provider Melissa has partnered with software company Esri to improve e-commerce operations.  

Broadcast television group Nexstar has selected Comscore as a currency provider for national, local and cross-platform audience measurement.  

Insight management solutions company Market Logic Software has partnered with trend forecasting and consumer insights company Nextatlas to improve AI-driven market insights.  

Audio content and entertainment company Audacy has renewed its partnership with audio analytics and research platform Veritonic to continue to offer its clients and advertising partners audio insights and data.  

Analytics and technology provider datafuelx has partnered with consumer insights company MRI-Simmons to implement demographic modeling to TV. 

Hallmark Media has renewed its agreement with Nielsen to measure linear TV across their networks. 

Association/organization news 

The Marketing Research Education Foundation has opened its nomination portal for the Philanthropic Company of the Year Award and Everyday Hero Award. To nominate a company or research professional visit www.mrgivesback.org/awards.  

Awards/rankings 

QRCA has named Gabrielle Rosser and Mariana Melo-Vega as the winners of the 2024 Lloyd J. Harris Scholarship Fund.  

QRCA has named Pam Rekow as the Impact Award winner, Susan Fader as the President’s Award winner, Paulina Fisher as the Rising Star Award winner and Anya Zadrozny and Sidney Jansons as the winners of the QRCA Award for Excellence in Qualitative Research, also known as the Qually Award. 

Insights platform Stravito has been recertified to the ISO/IEC 27001 standard for information security. 

MarketView Research recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. 

New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions 

Digital rewards and payment provider NeoCurrency has expanded its digital reward solutions to Mexico, Australia, Asia Pacific and Middle East markets.

Research technology and survey programming company Jibunu has launched a new brand identity and digital experience. 

Tape Consultancy will operate under the brand name Glance. 

Nielsen has expanded the coverage of its National TV out-of-home panel to represent all U.S. TV households. 

Fusion Healthcare Fielding has launched its Health System Executives Panel in the U.S. 

Research company RONIN International has opened an office in Hong Kong. 

Creativ Strategies has launched Creativ Insights, an AI and technology division. 

The National Centre for Social Research has launched the Centre for Gambling Research. 

Research and consulting firm SIS International has expanded its consulting services in the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors to help travel brands grow.

UX research agency Key Lime Interactive recently celebrated its 15th anniversary. 

Research firm Abt Associates has rebranded to Abt Global. 

Research company earnings/financial news 

The Insights Family has raised £5.6 million in an investment round led by BGF. 

Social video insights and analytics company ViralMoment has raised $2.5 million in its seed funding round led by Supernode Global.  

Operational metrics platform dataroomHQ has raised $3.5 million in a funding round led by Oceans and Bling Capital. 

In fourth-quarter 2023 results, National Research Corporation, dba NRC Health, reported diluted earnings per share increased to $0.36 from $0.27 compared to the quarter ended December 31, 2022. The 2022 period included a $0.10 per share cumulative foreign currency translation expense associated with exiting the Canadian market. Revenue was $38 million in each period, as increases in new core sales were offset by reductions in non-core revenue.

Data collaboration platform LiveRamp has released its third-quarter financial results reporting a total revenue of $174 million, subscription revenue of $132 million and a GAAP gross profit of $129 million.

Motif Analytics has raised $5.7 million in its seed funding round led by Felicis and Amplify Partners. 

Software platform ZoomInfo has released its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results reporting a fourth-quarter GAAP revenue of $316.4 million, a GAAP operating income of $70.5 million and an adjusted operating income of $126.5 million. It also reported a GAAP operating income of $259.5 million and adjusted operating income of $498.6 million for its full year. 

Marketing attribution platform Alembic has raised $14 million in its Series A round of funding led by WndrCo.

Ipsos has released its fourth-quarter financial results reporting an organic growth of 8.8% and revenue of €714.7 million.Â