GfK Invests in IP Video Data Firm Genius

GfK has announced a strategic investment in Genius Digital, giving its clients access to the firm's technology for collecting and acting upon customer data from IP-enabled video devices.

Genius' technology will be fed into GfK's audience measurement services and complement its existing TV, digital and mobile measurement offerings, while GfK will invest in Genius' product development and expansion of its technical capabilities.

GfK says the collaboration addresses the increasing complexity of advertising data in a multi-screen world, with TVs, advanced advertising, second screen solutions and social TV all making it harder for operators to collect, integrate and manage their customer data. The partners will offer an 'end to end' customer satisfaction program to cable and IPTV operators, integrating measurement of the quality of technical service received with experience-point tracking and optimization.

Dr. Gerhard Hausruckinger, GfK Management Board Member and responsible for the Consumer Choices sector, says the move brings 'a new, data-powered dimension' to the customer satisfaction and loyalty programs the global firm runs for IPTV and cable TV providers. He adds: 'Through this partnership, we gain a more complete view of the TV service customer - their behavior and their attitudes, and how these inter-relate. We can quantify the impact that quality of service has on brand and customer recommendation, and we can feed customer behavior analysis into our clients' CRM teams.'

GfK's home page is at www.gfk.com .