News notes
The Media Rating Council has voted to grant accreditation to Media Metrix, Reston, Va., firm comScore’s flagship syndicated digital audience measurement service.
Acquisitions/transactions
Redwood City, Calif., digital marketing firm Pierry Software has acquired Cleveland-based marketing firm C.TRAC Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Port Washington, N.Y., researcher NPD Group has purchased New York-based Nielsen’s VideoScan point-of-sale retail tracking service for the home video market. Combining the acquisition with its existing data assets and new services in development will allow NPD to offer information and insight to help the entertainment industry understand and anticipate how consumers are acquiring entertainment. NPD will integrate the service into an expanding product portfolio, including new Checkout Tracking services it is developing for digital tracking of home entertainment sales.
Teaneck, N.J., firm Perception Research Services and Paris-based researcher IN VIVO have merged their companies to create a new insights agency, PRS IN VIVO. The senior management of both entities will remain with the new company.
NAB Labs, the technology division of The National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, D.C., has invested in Baltimore-based start-up Yet Analytics.
Private equity firm Nordic Capital Fund VIII has acquired Stockholm, Sweden, research technology firm Cint from a large shareholder group that includes Prime Ventures, Creandum, Cipio Partners, the founder and a group of individual investors and employees.
Kantar, London, has acquired a majority stake in its partner in Denmark and Sweden, researcher Millward Brown Denmark ApS, to broaden its offer in all Nordic markets.
Apple, Cupertino, Calif., has purchased San Diego artificial intelligence start-up Emotient Inc.
RTi Research, Norwalk, Conn., has acquired boutique market research firm Hamill Associates. Barbara Hamill, founder of Hamill Associates, will join RTi Research as a senior vice president.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., firm eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions has acquired AffiliateTraction, a Santa Cruz, Calif., performance marketing agency. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
IBM, Armonk, N.Y., has acquired Germany-based firm IRIS Analytics.
Stamford, Conn., research technology firm FocusVision has acquired Austin-based firm Kinesis Survey Technologies, now KinesisPanel, an online panel management platform. The addition of KinesisPanel to FocusVision’s suite of research solutions will enhance the product options available to both FocusVision and KinesisPanel clients by providing a wider set of research tools with real-time data synchronization into a single panelist database.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Los Angeles-based media company Fullscreen and New York media investment management firm GroupM have partnered to form an influencer marketing partnership called Playa to serve clients across GroupM and WPP agencies. Playa will be staffed by a team of influencer marketing specialists and will give clients sponsorship opportunities with creators and programming formats across YouTube, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat and more. They will also have access to Fullscreen’s proprietary creator/client platform, which matches a brand campaign audience target with creators who can reach that audience with scale.
New York-based firm SHC Universal and Towson, Md., panel provider Rare Patient Voice have formed a preferred partnership, enabling access to patients and their caregivers with rare and orphan diseases for market research surveys. With this collaboration, SHC Universal will also have access to Rare Patient Voice’s networks.
Portland, Ore., technology company Dialsmith and Provo, Utah, software-as-a-service company Qualtrics have formed a partnership that will let Qualtrics customers add Dialsmith’s online dial testing to their surveys. Qualtrics is offering Dialsmith’s service through the Qualtrics Innovation Exchange marketplace.
Association/organization news
In Los Angeles, Women in Research (WIRe), a nonprofit organization for women in the market research industry, has formed an information alliance with ESOMAR. ESOMAR will gain access to WIRe’s online interactive platforms and receive recognition at all WIRe events and programming. In addition, ESOMAR’s CFO Marie-Agns Mourot de Lathyle will serve on WIRe’s advisory board. The Research World Connect blog will also include WIRe-curated content and WIRe members, sponsors and partners will have more direct access to ESOMAR communication channels and expertise to help promote activities and events and gain insight into issues facing the industry.
ESOMAR and market research agencies comScore, GfK, Kantar and Nielsen have launched Research Choices, a joint initiative to boost transparency and choice for online audience measurement research. The initiative results from 18 months of joint representation activities in front of European legislators in the context of negotiations to adopt the EU General Data Protection Regulation. The joint representation activities and the portal are being facilitated by ESOMAR at the behest of the founding Research Choices partners. The Web-based portal will provide the general public with educational content initially demonstrating how online audience measurement research and online market research generally is conducted as well as highlighting participating companies’ privacy policies and tools to exercise opt-out and choice. Further development of the portal will be spearheaded by the Research Choices partnership. The partnership is open to all responsible research organizations that are members of a national or international research association subscribing to the ICC/ESOMAR Code or an equivalent national ethical code for market, opinion or social research.
Awards/rankings
Irvine, Calif., firm MFour Mobile Research’s Surveys on the Go mobile survey application has been listed as a top research application for “boosting your bank account” by Self magazine.
BrainJuicer, a U.K. research agency, has released the 2015 Global FeelMore50, its annual ranking of the world’s best ads. According to the ranking, Purina’s “Puppyhood” ad topped the list as the best ad of 2015 for being the most emotive. The FeelMore50 used BrainJuicer’s predictive BrainJuicer Ad Testing methodology to test over 500 of the world’s most acclaimed, viral and award-winning ads, with over 42,000 consumers ranking the ads on a one- to five-star rating.
New accounts/projects
Nielsen, New York, has been named the preferred provider of consumer insights and analytics for Dole Food Company, Westlake Village, Calif. Nielsen and Dole have entered into a long-term contractual relationship that will provide Dole with a view of the consumer through Nielsen’s suite of products and services.
Burbank, Calif., firm ThinkNow Research has expanded its demographic focus from a U.S. Hispanic focus to include African-American and Asian demographics.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Fort Washington, Pa., firm M3 Global Research has opened its first U.S. research facility, M3 Philadelphia Studios. The studio provides the health care community and the consumer goods industry with custom AV technology and market research recruiting. The firm has a studio in Hammersmith, London, serving the European market, making the U.S. the second global location. Lindita Mezani, vice president of market research, will serve as the Philadelphia Studio manager.
New York firm SIS International Research has launched its Integrated Research unit, which brings together traditional market research methods with sensory research methods, including eye-tracking and other solutions like the company’s SIS-SQREEM Big Data solutions. The integrated research methods allow companies to measure consumer reactions in real time. The firm has also appointed Joe Messina as research director, Integrated Research Services.
As of January 1, Reston, Va., firm Veris Consulting’s outsourced accounting, survey research and primary market research divisions became Vault Consulting. Vault has also launched its new Web site.
London-based research agency Tapestry has opened an office in New York to be headed by Esther Burke.
Research and technology company Toluna has opened a new office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, led by Christine Tan, senior director, Southeast Asia.
Research company earnings/financial news
Tampa, Fla., firm Study Hall Research has reported that Q4 quarterly revenues increased by 57 percent versus corporate revenues for the same period one year ago. Annual revenue for 2015 increased 41.8 percent versus annual revenue for 2014. In addition, CY2015 revenue for the company was the highest posted in its six years of operation. Since its inception, the company has posted average annual revenue gains of 18.4 percent per year.
Dapresy, a Sweden-based software firm, has reported a record year with organic growth of more than 35 percent in 2015.