News notes
New York-based GfK Custom Research North America has completed the integration of its companies in the U.S. and Canada, remapping based on sectors and practice areas. Under the GfK Custom Research North America umbrella are ARBOR, Allison-Fisher International, Caribou Lake, Custom Research Inc. and NOP World (U.S.). GfK Research Dynamics, its custom research company in Canada, will continue to function as a standalone entity. New sectors include GfK Automotive, GfK Consumer, GfK Financial Services, GfK Media & Communications and GfK Technology. Practice areas consist of GfK Roper Consulting, GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media, GfK Brand & Communications, GfK Customer Loyalty and GfK Qualitative & Ethnography as well as a research center of excellence.
Norway-based research software maker Future Information Research Management (FIRM) has changed its name to Confirmit as part of the company’s ongoing focus and commitment to its flagship Confirmit platform.
Arbitron Inc., New York, has concluded a round of testing using the Portable People Meter (PPM) system to detect audio content broadcast in malls by Mall Radio Network. The project represents the first successful attempt to encode and monitor audio content broadcast within a mall environment. During the Houston PPM demonstration, Arbitron has successfully tested the PPM within individual retail establishments. This is the first trial that tracked exposure to audio played in the common areas of the mall outside individual stores.
Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., was awarded a business method patent (U.S. Patent No. 7,171,567) entitled “A System for Protecting Information over the Internet.” This technology, incorporated in a proprietary suite of security products known as ConceptLoc, enables secure distribution and copy protection of images and video embedded in online surveys, as well as the text that may appear with those images.
Dallas research firm eRewards Inc. recognized 48 employees who achieved Professional Researcher Certification from the Marketing Research Association.
Acquisitions/transactions
London-based TNS has acquired Sorensen Associates, a Troutdale, Ore., research firm specializing in understanding shopper behavior, as part of its new global practice, TNS Retail and Shopper Insights. In a related move, TNS has also acquired Retail Forward Inc., a Columbus, Ohio consulting and research firm.
TNS Media Intelligence, New York, has acquired Cymfony, a market influence analytics company based in Watertown, Mass. Cymfony staff will join the TNS Media Intelligence organization, and remain at their present location. The new TNS Media Intelligence unit will be known as TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.
Edison, N.J.-based research firm Schlesinger Associates has acquired Convention Research Services.
Asia-based research process outsourcing firm Pulse Group has acquired a new facility in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The facility will expand its floor capacity by 300 percent and is expected to house a CATI center and an additional 30 research professionals. Pulse will maintain its operations team in its Cyberjaya office.
Cincinnati advertising agency Freedman, Gibson & White (FG&W) and Cincinnati research firm The FocusMark Group have combined to create Focus/FGW, which will have 106 employees and combine the two firms’ existing slate of services. Kim Sharp of FocusMark will be the vice president and managing partner of the new firm and will own 25 percent of the company. Three executives of the ad firm - Tim Gibson, Kim White and John Beard - will work as vice presidents and will each own 25 percent of the combined company. Sharp purchased the share owned by Leigh Miller, who had been president of FG&W. He will work at the combined company for a limited time as a consultant.
Louisville, Ky., research firm Wilkerson & Associates has leased a 6,000-square-foot facility in Henderson, Ky., to conduct telephone surveys. The Henderson facility will be the company’s fourth call center in Kentucky.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Dallas research firmParks Associates and EH Publishing, a Framingham, Mass., information firm, announced a research alliance that combines the firms’ knowledge of the home systems integration market to provide data and analysis on the players, market dynamics and future trends for the channel.
Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based Qualitative Insights has formed a partnership with Telemundo to manage a new focus group facility at Universal City Walk in Hollywood. Qualitative Insights will conduct Hispanic recruiting and research for the network in City Walk. Qualitative Insights is the qualitative and field division of Los Angeles-based Interviewing Service of America.
Association/organization news
The Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) has responded to the growing global influence and buying power of Latinos by forming the Latino Special Interest Group (SIG), which is dedicated to serving QRCA members who work with Latino and Spanish-speaking markets. The Latino SIG is open to QRCA members interested in learning about and enhancing the quality of qualitative research done with Hispanic populations globally. In a press release, Latino SIG Chair Ricardo Lopez said the group will focus initially on several objectives, including: developing guidelines on how to conduct research in Latin America, which poses different challenges and opportunities when compared to research conducted in the U.S. and Canada; promoting qualitative research among Latino college students by developing a strategy to bring more college students into qualitative research; and developing a best-practices guideline that serves as a model for conducting research with Hispanic populations in the U.S.
The Marketing Research Association (MRA) announced that the RIVA Training Institute has officially endorsed MRA’s Professional Researcher Certification (PRC) program. RIVA joins the American Marketing Association, the Advertising Research Foundation, the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research, the Interactive Marketing Research Organization, Marketing Research Institute International and the Burke Institute as endorsers of this program. As endorsers, RIVA’s education programs will carry PRC credits, will utilize the official PRC logo and the two organizations will cross-promote each other’s educational offerings through the Certification program.
New accounts/projects
The Media Rating Council accredited Arbitron’s Houston Portable People Meter (PPM) radio ratings at the end of January. Arbitron had previously stated that it would not commercialize the PPM radio ratings service in Houston until it had received MRC accreditation for those ratings.
Separately, Cox Radio has agreed to encode its four radio stations in Houston for the Portable People Meter radio ratings service. In addition, Casanova Pendrill, a Costa Mesa, Calif., agency specializing in integrated Hispanic communications, has signed an agreement for Portable People Meter radio ratings services in Houston, New York and Los Angeles. And Clear Channel Radio has signed a multi-year agreement for the Portable People Meter radio ratings service in Philadelphia. Clear Channel Radio also agreed to encode its radio stations in Philadelphia with the start of the March PPM survey period.
Panel research firm eCGlobalPanel has licensed the Confirmit MR platform from Norway-based Confirmit for its online market research activities. Separately, Netquest, a Spain-based provider of online fieldwork and panels, has licensed the Confirmit On-Demand software solution.
San Mateo, Calif.-based Internet and mobile test and measurement firm Keynote and Mauro Usability Science, a New York user experience design and testing firm, are working with MTV Networks to better understand how viewers are interacting with MTVN’s Virtual Laguna Beach virtual world. Mauro Usability Science and Keynote, using the Keynote WebEffective solution, began working closely with MTV Networks’ internal research executives prior to the launch of Virtual Laguna Beach in September 2006 and are continuing to do so to help develop and test the online user experience.
Company earnings reports
In preliminary 2006 numbers for Germany-based GfK Group, the company increased sales by 18.7 percent from EUR 937.3 million to EUR 1,112 million. With organic growth of 5.4 percent, GfK also outperformed sector growth, which experts estimate at 4 percent to 5 percent. Adjusted operating income improved by 20.3 percent to EUR 150 million. This corresponds to a margin of 13.5 percent after 12.6 percent on a like-for-like comparison, i.e., including the NOP World companies for the full year, representing an increase of 90 basis points. The company has achieved its sales target in full and the margin is on the upside of the target range of 13.3 percent to 13.6 percent, which in itself was upgraded in mid-November 2006.
In 2006 results, U.K.-based Taylor Nelson Sofres reported revenue of £1,004.2 million, an adjusted operating profit of £99.5 million, an adjusted operating margin of 9.9 percent, adjusted earnings per share of 12.7p and an operating profit of £74.4 million.
In 2006, Paris-based Ipsos’ revenues totaled EUR 857.3 million, an increase of 19.4 percent on 2005. At constant scope and exchange rates, revenues were up 6.5 percent. Ipsos’ organic growth in 2006 was lower than its long-run average and than had been anticipated at the start of the year. There were two main factors behind this. First, the market grew a little more slowly than expected, by around 5 percent. Second, some Ipsos companies, particularly in western continental Europe, experienced tough conditions at the end of the year. This was partly due to problems in client industries such as fast-moving consumer goods, and partly due to the slow pace in rollouts of contracts won in the last few months of the year. These difficulties mainly affected the marketing research segment, which suffered from insufficient global integration.
NetRatings Inc., New York, announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year-ended December 31, 2006. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2006 were $22 million, a 24 percent increase compared to revenues of $17.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2005. Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2006 were $81.8 million, an increase of 20 percent compared to revenues of $68 million in 2005.
Net income for the fourth quarter 2006 was $99,000, or $0.00 per share, on approximately 35.2 million shares. This compares with a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2005 of ($713,000), or ($0.02) per share, on approximately 36 million shares. During the fourth quarter of 2006, NetRatings recorded $778,000 in acquisition-related expenses in connection with the October 2006 proposal from The Nielsen Company B.V. to acquire the outstanding publicly held minority interest in NetRatings. NetRatings’ results improved from a net loss of ($8.4 million), or ($0.23) per share, in 2005 to net income of $2.8 million, or $0.08 per share, in 2006.
For the fourth quarter of 2006, on a pro forma EBITDA basis (a non-GAAP measure that reflects net income/loss excluding interest income/expense, taxes, depreciation, amortization of intangibles and stock-based compensation, as well as acquisition related expenses), NetRatings earned $3.3 million, or $0.09 per share, compared to pro forma EBITDA income in the fourth quarter of 2005 of $779,000, or $0.02 per share. NetRatings significantly improved its full-year pro forma EBITDA results during 2006, moving from a loss in 2005 of ($1.2 million), or ($0.03) per share, to earnings of $10.1 million, or $0.29 per share, in 2006.