News notes
MediaMind Technologies Inc., a New York advertising firm, has earned accreditation from the Media Rating Council, New York, for its unique impressions and average frequency metrics under the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s audience reach measurement guidelines.
OLC Global, a Bartlesville, Okla., research company, has received national certification from the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, Washington, D.C., as a business that is at least 51 percent owned, controlled, operated and managed by a woman or women.
The Council of American Survey Research Organizations’ Institute for Research Quality, Port Jefferson, N.Y., has awarded certification for the ISO 26362:2009 standard for access panels in market, opinion and social research to M3 USA, a Washington, D.C., research company, for M3 USA’s MDLinx U.S. online panel of specialist physicians and health care professionals.
NetQuest, a Mount Laurel, N.J., research company, celebrated its 10th anniversary in January 2011.
Acquisitions/transactions
Media Monitors, a White Plains, N.Y., research company, has acquired a majority stake in Singapore research company Brandtology. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Austin, Texas, fundraising company Convio Inc. has acquired Overland Park, Kan., research company StrategicOne. Under the agreement, Convio will pay approximately $5 million in cash and may also pay $1 million in cash based on successful achievement of performance targets payable over three years.
London communications group WPP has agreed to acquire a further stake in Mindshare South Africa, a Bryanston, South Africa, media management company, from Ogilvy South Africa. Research is among Mindshare’s offerings. Mindshare will become part of WPP’s GroupM network of companies within South Africa.
Devon, U.K., research software company idio has acquired thrudigital, a London social media development company, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will provide idio a permanent client delivery location in London.
MarketShare, a Los Angeles research company, has agreed to acquire Princeton, N.J., marketing advisory firm MarketingNPV. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
London research company Kantar has acquired the entire issued share capital of Saarlouis, Germany, research company Spring Wirtz und Pischke GmbH and Co., KG. Following the acquisition, Spring will become part of Kantar Media.
Diversified Agency Services (DAS), a division of New York marketing communications company Omnicom Group Inc., has acquired Communispace Corporation, a Watertown, Mass., research company.
Additionally, DAS has acquired The Modellers, a Salt Lake City marketing research company. The Modellers will continue to serve clients from its headquarter location.
Stockholm, Sweden, research company Cint AB has acquired Scottsdale, Ariz., research company Thumbspeak LLC for an undisclosed amount. Thumbspeak will become a Cint Group company and its do-it-yourself mobile relationship marketing platform will be integrated into the Cint Panel Exchange as a plug-in for existing and new panel owners, as well as sold as a stand-alone licensed product under its existing brand name.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Rochester, N.Y., research company Harris Interactive and Wilton, Conn., consulting firm Top Box Associates have formed a strategic alliance to offer clients a product forecasting solution.
London research company YouGov has partnered with London marketing firm Adform to integrate YouGov’s technology with the Adform platform to create AdSurvey, an offering designed to allow customers to pre-test how one or more banner ads are received by the target group.
Ugam Research Solutions, Mumbai, India, has formed a partnership with Vancouver, B.C., research company Techneos to improve mobile research capabilities.
Manchester, U.K., research company B2B International has entered into a joint venture with its marketing and communications agency B2B Marcomms (formerly Frank Communications). B2B International acquired a 50 percent stake in B2B Marcomms.
Horsham, Pa., research company TNS has expanded in Hungary through a new joint venture with Hoffmann Research International. Hoffmann will be rebranded as TNS Hoffmann.
Awards/rankings
Murphy Marketing Research/Trendtown, Milwaukee, Wis., has been rated among the top 10 qualitative market research firms in the 2011 Annual Survey of Market Research Professionals conducted by marketresearchcareers.com.
Mumbai, India., research company Ugam Solutions has been included in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2010, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in Asia-Pacific.
Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical has been named by Canada’s Top 100 Employers as one of the Top 55 Employers in British Columbia. The company was recognized for providing employees with development opportunities; support in maintaining work-life balance; financial benefits like profit-sharing and bonuses; and encouraging green commuting.
New accounts/projects
ForeSee Results, an Ann Arbor, Mich., research company has been selected by British Airways, Harmondsworth, U.K., to measure customer satisfaction and make improvements to its Web site www.britishairways.com.
Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corporation has signed a multi-year agreement to provide its StationView Essentials local television ratings measurement service with Bonten Media Group Inc., New York.
Additionally, Starcom Mediavest Group, New York, has expanded its agreement with Rentrak to use Rentrak’s StationView Essentials as one of its resources for local TV planning and buying across 20 major and mid-sized markets throughout the U.S. At the same time, Starcom renewed its commitment to Rentrak’s national TV measurement service, TV Essentials.
Finally, Rentrak has expanded its multi-year StationView Essentials agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., Hunt Valley, Md. The agreement extends Sinclair’s 2011 commitment to 21 stations in 12 markets.
Framingham, Mass., research company Kadence International has added Stamford, Conn., research software company FocusVision’s focus group video technology to its facility in Singapore. Kadence has been awarded partner status with FocusVision as a result.
Television Industry Committee, Kiev, Ukraine, has agreed to prolong the terms of its agreement with Kiev research company GfK Ukraine for television audience measurement research until December 31, 2014.
Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical has begun its Research on Research initiative to allow a team of researchers, respondent engagement specialists and software developers to offer information, determine best practices and issue practical recommendations.
Fresno, Calif., research company Decipher Inc. has been selected by Davis, Hibbitts and Midghall Research, Portland, Ore., to develop custom online research panels at www.dhmresearchpanel.com.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Dulles, Va., research company Vovici has expanded its European presence with a datacenter in London.
Additionally, Vovici has announced plans to relocate its headquarters to Presidents Plaza I, 196 Van Buren St., Herndon, Va.
Voxco, a Montreal research firm, has opened a London office.
Paris research company Ipsos has expanded its Ipsos in Malaysia operation with an office in Kuala Lumpur.
Milwaukee, Wis., research company Market Probe has opened an office in Hong Kong.
Researchers Helen Nuki, Alexa Arrowsmith and Helen Law have launched Monkey See, a U.K. research company. The firm is online at www.monkey-see.co.uk.
IFF Research in the U.K.; CSA in France; Advira in Spain, Mafo-Institut in Germany; Unicab in Italy; and IMAS in Austria have collaborated to form RedRay International Research Partners, a pan-European network to conduct international research projects and provide senior-level support throughout international projects. The network is online at www.redray-international.com.
The Marketing Group of New England Inc., Boston, has begun offering a focus group service to its residential development clients.
Research Now, Plano, Texas, has relocated its Seattle office to 1375 Northwest Mall St., Suite 9, Issaquah, Wash. The location is the former Seattle Peanut Labs office.
Research company earnings/financial news
Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., announced its second-quarter fiscal 2011 financial results. Total revenue was $44.9 million, compared with $44.6 million for the same prior year period. Operating income was $0.9 million, compared with operating income of $0.6 million for the prior-year period. Net income was $0.3 million, compared with net income of $1.3 million in 2010.
Rentrak Corporation, Portland, Ore., announced financial results for its fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2010. Consolidated revenues rose 3 percent over the prior-year period to $23.7 million.
Vovici, Dulles, Va., reported record sales growth, customer renewal rates and profitability in 2010. Compared to 2009, in 2010 Vovici experienced a 35 percent increase in worldwide sales; a 70 percent increase in EMEA sales; an 83 percent increase in $100k+ deals; and a 15 percent increase in average deal size.
Arbitron Inc., Columbia, Md., reported results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2010. Net income for the fourth quarter 2010 was $15.6 million, compared with $12.6 million for fourth-quarter 2009. Net income for the full year 2010 increased to $44.5 million, compared with $42.2 million in 2009. Revenue was $395.4 million, an increase of 2.7 percent versus revenue of $385 million for full-year 2009.
ComScore Inc., Reston, Va., announced financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010. In the fourth quarter of 2010, comScore achieved record quarterly revenue of $51.2 million, an increase of 52 percent over fourth-quarter 2009. Operating profit rose by 34.7 percent to 119.5 million euros in 2010 and the operating margin settled at 10.5 percent.
Ipsos, Paris, reported total 2010 of 1.14 million euros, up 20.9 percent over 2009. Revenues increased by 8.3 percent on a like-for-like basis and at constant exchange rates.
Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC, Austin, Texas, announced record revenue growth for 2010 and its seventh consecutive year of sustained profitability.
Kadence International, Framingham, Mass., reported insight-driven revenue of $1.4 million for the last six months of 2010, a 98 percent increase compared to the same period in 2009 and a 46 percent revenue rise compared to the first half of 2010.
Cambiar, Phoenix, reported a 120 percent increase in revenue in 2010 over the previous year.