Senior Hire for Ad Spend Specialist Standard Media Index

In New York, former Nielsen exec Scott Grunther has joined real-time ad spend data specialist Standard Media Index (SMI) in the newly created role of EVP of Media.

SMI provides monthly media agency expenditure data for all major media and product categories for the US, UK and Australian media markets.

Grunther (pictured) joins with more than twenty years' media industry experience. Most recently, he worked at Ipsos MediaCT, where he oversaw a team of 30 researchers and account managers delivering insights to both traditional and digital media firms; and before this, he led the Media Products business for social media TV analytics firm BlueFin Labs. Earlier, he served as SVP at Nielsen IAG, the division that measures TV and online ad effectiveness. He began his career in ad sales at CNN, following up with business development and account management positions at a number of media technology companies.

In his new role, Grunther will work with SMI's subscribers to help them use the firm's ad spend data to drive ad sales.

Chief Commercial Officer James Fennessy comments: 'Scott will be a critical factor in the next stage of our development. His established track record and in-depth understanding of the market will be of enormous value as we expand our client base both here in the US and globally.'

Web site: www.standardmediaindex.com .