News notes
The Research Industry Index, a quarterly study from the Marketing Research Association, Washington, D.C., designed to track the health of the industry in the U.S., was at 102 for third-quarter 2013 and continues to build on the recovery seen in the second quarter.
Austin, Texas, research company Bazaarvoice Inc.’s $168 million acquisition of rival company PowerReviews, San Francisco, has been found to be anticompetitive and in violation of antitrust laws, according to a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge William H. Orrick III in the Northern District of California.
Both companies power online reviews for retailers. Bazaarvoice, which acquired PowerReviews in 2012, didn’t seek regulatory approval before the merger. Six months after the acquisition, the Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit that the deal violated antitrust laws.
Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley have filed a lawsuit in a U.S. district court in Northern California alleging that Facebook, Menlo Park, Calif., mines private messages for links and other information that can be sold to advertisers, marketers and data aggregators. According to the suit, this is done without proper disclosure or the consent of users.
The plaintiffs want the suit to be made a class action and suggest that as many as 166 million Facebook users in the U.S. would be eligible to join.
Gallup Inc., Washington, D.C., has officially closed its Budapest, Hungary, office. All 20 employees have been laid off and Hungary-based customers are to go through Gallup’s London office in the future.
Media Monitors, a White Plains, N.Y., research company, has earned continued accreditation from the Media Rating Council, New York, for its radio spot data service.
Acquisitions/transactions
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has completed its acquisition of Columbia, Md., research company Arbitron Inc.
Nielsen and Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. have agreed to terms and other requirements in compliance with the terms set forth in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decision and order dated September 20, 2013. Nielsen’s agreement with the FTC was intended to preserve the competitive landscape in place prior to the acquisition by effectively enabling the continuation of a cross-platform project measuring media consumption across TV, radio, PCs, mobile devices and tablets.
Verint Systems Inc., a Melville, N.Y., research software company, has agreed to acquire Kana Software Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., for approximately $514 million in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments. The acquisition of Kana’s customer service solutions aims to extend Verint’s Actionable Intelligence strategy.
San Jose, Calif., digital business company Apigee has acquired InsightsOne, a Santa Clara, Calif., research technology company, to expand its big data analytics portfolio. InsightsOne will become part of Apigee’s integrated digital business platform for mobile apps, APIs and data analytics by mid-2014.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has completed its acquisition of all outstanding shares of common stock of Harris Interactive, a Rochester, N.Y., research company. Harris Interactive will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nielsen and its shares will cease to be traded on NASDAQ. Harris Interactive will be integrated into Nielsen’s Buy business segment. Nielsen will retain The Harris Poll brand.
London research company YouGov has acquired Hong Kong research company Decision Fuel to expand its services across China and Southeast Asia. Decision Fuel will be rebranded as YouGov Asia Pacific.
Zain Raj has acquired a majority interest in Chicago research firm Shapiro to form Shapiro + Raj, a research company based in Shapiro’s headquarters at 153 West Ohio Street in Chicago. The company is online at www.shapiroraj.com.
Oslo, Norway, research software company Confirmit has acquired London research company Integrasco to expand its technologies for capturing social insights and analyzing unstructured text.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
New York advertising company Simulmedia has expanded its agreement with FourthWall Media, Dulles, Va., to integrate FourthWall’s daily feed of TV-viewing data and match that viewing to household purchase data in a privacy-protected way.
Research companies SSI, Shelton, Conn., and Decision Analyst, Arlington, Texas, have partnered to allow members of Decision Analyst’s executive, technology, IT decision makers and contractors panels to join the SSI B2B inSSItes sample.
Research companies IRI, Chicago, and Spins LLC, Schaumburg, Ill., have expanded their relationship to further integrate Spins’ expertise in natural, organic and specialty products with IRI’s point-of-sale tracking and reporting solutions to create a new SPINSscan Conventional retail measurement platform.
Awards/rankings
Kathleen Flanagan, president and CEO of Abt Associates, has been named Executive of the Year by the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce and the Professional Services Council. The award recognizes a government contracting executive who made outstanding contributions to their company, the community and the government contracting industry during the past year.
Mountain View, Calif., research company Ace Metrix has been named to the Red Herring Global 100, a list that honors 100 startups across their respective industries from North America, Europe and Asia, based on financial performance, technology innovation, management quality, strategy and market penetration.
George Kuhn, director of research services at Research & Marketing Strategies, has received the 40 Under 40 award from the CNY Business Journal. The award recognizes 40 men and women under the age of 40 who have achieved professional success and made significant civic contributions to Central New York.
New accounts/projects
Nuremberg, Germany, research company The GfK Group has signed a contract with Saudi Media Measurement Company to introduce a new television audience measurement service in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The initial contract has a five-year timespan with data delivery expected to start in 2015.
Research companies Affectiva, Waltham, Mass., and Millward Brown, New York, have renewed their multi-million, multi-year agreement allowing Millward Brown to use Affectiva’s technology in its automated facial coding software.
Chandler, Ariz., wellness company Isagenix has selected Surrey, U.K., research company EasyInsites to build and manage its custom online panel.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company and CBS Corporation, New York, have expanded their relationship to advance cross-platform audience measurement and will continue to allow for the use of Nielsen data as a key metric in valuing CBS content.
Fresno, Calif., research company Decipher Inc. has selected Thailand research software company MRDC as the official reseller of Decipher’s Beacon survey programming and reporting platform in Southeast Asia.
Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corp. has signed agreements with Ad4! Group, Hunstville, Ala.; St. John & Partners, Jacksonville, Fla.; and Davis Elen Advertising, Los Angeles, for its StationView Essentials TV ratings service.
Additionally, Rentrak has signed an agreement with Vme, Miami, to provide its TV Essentials ratings service.
Finally, CBS has selected Rentrak’s TV Essentials service for Rentrak’s Advanced Demographics currency. The agreement also includes a subscription for CBS’ sister network, CBS Sports Network.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Los Angeles research company db5 has opened a Chicago office. Michelle Castle has been named president, U.S., and will lead the new office.
Los Angeles research company Vision Strategy and Insights has opened for business and is online at www.visionstrategyandinsights.com. The company will specialize in research studies among general market, Hispanic, African-American and Asian consumers.
SIS International Research, New York, has opened an office in Manila, the Philippines. Iris Lorenzo will lead the operation.
Researcher Thomas Gleissner has launched Research Excellence, a Frankfurt, Germany, research company, servicing the pharmaceutical, medical technology and medical device sectors. The company is online at www.research-excellence.de.
SMG Insight, the sport and sponsorship arm of London research company YouGov, has opened an office in Edinburgh, Scotland. Lucy Bell has been appointed to lead SMG Insight Scotland.
New York research company GroupM has launched a new unit, dubbed Modi Media, to focus on accelerating addressable and advanced TV audience targeting. Michael Bologna will serve as its president.
Research companies Fieldwork Network, i-view London, Viewpoint Europe and Estudio Silvia Roca have collaborated to launch FIVE Research, a research alliance designed to provide service and support for any methodology worldwide. FIVE offers 23 studios owned and operated by its members: Fieldwork in the U.S.; i-view London in the U.K.; Viewpoint Europe in Germany; and Estudio Silvia Roca in Spain and Latin America. FIVE Research is online at www.fiveresearch.com.
Thoroughbred Research Group, Louisville, Ky., has partnered with researchers James C. Fink and Barbara Booth to develop an analytics division under the Thoroughbred brand.
Schlesinger Associates, an Iselin, N.J., research company, has launched its online services in Europe. James Sallows will lead Schlesinger Interactive Europe, based in London.
New York research company OnePoint Global has opened an office in Lyon, France. Gary Stocks will head up the OnePoint Global operation in France and French-speaking Switzerland.
Vancouver, B.C., research company Ipsos in Canada has realigned its local practices serving clients in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The change also impacts Ipsos’ practice in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. To help steer this initiative, Michael Rodenburgh has been appointed executive vice president for Ipsos in the region.
Research company earnings/financial news
BrainJuicer Group PLC, London, reported revenue increase of 17 percent to more than £24 million in 2013.
The GfK Group, Nuremberg, Germany, achieved organic growth of almost 1 percent in financial year 2013.
IMS Health, Danbury, Conn., has publicly filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock.
GutCheck, Denver, has secured an unsolicited $4 million in new investment from Silicon Valley-based Icon Venture Partners and existing investors. This investment joins an additional $4 million in Series B financing announced in May 2013.