Acquisitions/transactions
IBM, Armonk, N.Y., has agreed to acquire Pittsburgh data software company Vivisimo.
Danbury, Conn., research company IMS Health has acquired DecisionView, a San Francisco software company.
Piramal Healthcare Ltd., Mumbai, India, has agreed to acquire Decision Resources Group, a Burlington, Mass., research company.
Palo Alto, Calif., private equity firm Symphony Technology Group has acquired Source Healthcare Analytics LLC, a Phoenix research company.
Plano, Texas, research company e-Rewards Inc. has agreed to acquire Columbus, Ohio, research company iPinion LLC. IPinion will be rebranded as Research Now Mobile.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical has partnered with Sinitor, a Sundbyberg, Sweden, research company, to bring Vision Critical’s panels to the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Separately, Vision Critical has partnered with Perth, Australia, advisory firm Metrix Consulting, allowing Metrix access to Vision Critical’s suite of research tools.
Association/organization news
The Global Research Business Network (GRBN) has agreed on a program of work for 2012-2013. The European Federation of Associations of Market Research Organizations, Brussels, Belgium, will lead standards and self-regulation development. The Americas Research Industry Alliance will lead the development of new initiatives to measure the growth and predict the future development of the research sector. The Asia Pacific Research Committee, Glebe, Australia, will lead development of GRBN information resources.
Awards/rankings
The Americas Research Industry Alliance has announced Martha Alicia López Contreras of Pearson, Mexico City, and Maria Belén Gonzalo of Datos Claros, Buenos Aires, Argentina, as winners of the first Manolo Award for Future Industry Leaders in the Americas. The award honors the late Manolo Barberena by exposing emerging research industry leaders to research cultures in foreign countries.
Ewa J. Kleczyk of Horsham, Pa., research company ImpactRx has received the Rising Star Award by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, Fairfield, N.J. The award recognizes the outstanding performance and commitment to excellence of those who contribute on a daily basis to their companies’ successes.
Waltham, Mass., research company Affinnova Inc. has been named a Cool Vendor by Gartner Inc., a Stamford, Conn., research company. Cool Vendors are selected for being innovative, impactful and intriguing.
Andrea Schrager of Meadowlands Consumer Center, a Secaucus, N.J., research company, has received the 2012 Arline Simpson Leadership Award from the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce, Rutherford, N.J. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to both the community and to the Chamber through their leadership and commitment.
New accounts/projects
Opinions For Good Inc., a Portsmouth, N.H., research company, has adopted Austin, Texas, research company Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC’s Kinesis Survey platform as its online survey solution.
Lego Systems Inc., an Enfield, Conn., toy manufacturer, has joined The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, a New York audience measurement group of TV networks, media agencies and marketers.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has confirmed that programming viewed via Philadelphia media company Comcast’s On Demand platform can be counted in time-shifted measurement, including C3 commercial ratings. The C3 rating measures the average commercial minutes in a program that were viewed live and time-shifted through video on demand or DVR playback in the three days following a linear broadcast.
Research Now, Plano, Texas, has entered into an agreement with American Airlines, Fort Worth, Texas, to allow members of American Airlines’ rewards program AAdvantage to earn AAdvantage miles for participating in Research Now’s By-Invitation-Only panel.
Libero, an Italy online portal and e-mail provider, has selected Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc.’s Digital Analytix as its analytics platform provider.
Research companies Autobytel Inc., Irvine, Calif., and AutoPacific, Tustin, Calif., have partnered to publicly survey recent car and truck buyers’ satisfaction ratings of new 2012 vehicles.
Fresno, Calif., research company Decipher Inc.’s Beacon survey platform has been adopted by London research company DataTree ConneXions Ltd.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Zodiak Kids, the children’s division of Zodiak Media, Paris, has established the Research Lab, its international research department. François Vallerian has been promoted to vice president, marketing research, Zodiak Kids, to lead the operation.
Research companies Ibope Media, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Repucom, Stamford, Conn., have launched Ibope/Repucom Sports, a research service for Latin America’s sports industry. The service will begin operations in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Rotterdam, Netherlands, consumer packaged goods company Unilever has opened a Customer Insight and Innovation Center in Mumbai, India, to study how consumers shop fast-moving consumer goods products.
Columbia, Md., research company Arbitron Inc. has opened a new facility in Kochi, India, to increase its scale of operations in India.
Researchers Catherine and Angela Paura have launched Capstone Global Marketing and Research Group, Los Angeles, to serve the film industry.
Kokomo, Ind., research company MarketVibes has opened a new research facility, dubbed MarketVibes Research @ WFYI.
Roda Marketing Research Inc. has relocated to 261 Old York Road, Suite 404, Jenkintown, Pa.
Marketing Intelligence Professionals, Atlanta, has changed its name to Market Research Recruiter.com. The company is online at www.marketresearchrecruiter.com.
BayaSoft, a Leominster, Mass., research company, has rebranded as Jibunu. The company is online at www.jibunu.com.
Research company earnings/financial news
Focus Pointe Global, Philadelphia, has received capital from MVC Private Equity Fund L.P. Terms of the financing were not disclosed.
EyeTrackShop, New York, has closed its first round of funding of $3 million, with Northzone as lead investor.
Qualtrics, Provo, Utah, has received $70 million from Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital to expand its headquarters and increase staff.
ComScore Inc., Reston, Va., announced quarterly revenue of $62.3 million for the first quarter of 2012, an increase of 18 percent over the prior-year period.
Harris Interactive, Rochester, New York, reported an 8 percent decrease in revenue to $34.1 million in the quarter ended March 21, 2012.
Confirmit, Oslo, Norway, announced 34 percent increase in revenue from mobile solutions in first-quarter 2012 over the prior-year period, following the 2011 acquisition of Techneos, Vancouver, B.C.
The GfK Group, Nuremberg, Germany, announced a first-quarter 2012 sales increase of 11.3 percent to 345.1 million euros.
Affinnova Inc., Waltham, Mass., announced record sales for the 39fiscal year ended March 31, 2012. Total sales increased 43 percent over 2011.
The Nielsen Company, New York, announced 3 percent revenue growth to $1,340 million for the first quarter of 2012. Net income was $25 million, compared to a net loss of $(181) million in 2011.