WPP has announced that its bid for TNS had been accepted by around 43% of the latter’s shareholders as of 2.30pm Monday – up from just 34% on Friday. The acquisitive ad group also says it will move its ‘domicile’ to Ireland due to the current ‘complexity’ of the UK tax system. More

WPP has again extended its deadline for TNS shareholders to decide on its £1.2bn bid - to this Friday, October 3rd - but has now received acceptances from 33.8% of them - up from just 11% two weeks previously. More

GfK has appointed Dr. Arno Mahlert to replace Hajo Riesenbeck as Chairman. Stefan Pfander replaces him as Deputy Chairman. More

Global research turnover rose in line with expectations last year to just over US$28bn, according to statistics from ESOMAR, revealed at last week's annual Congress. The rise from 2006 figures was 6.5% or 3.9% after adjustment for inflation. More

The Indian MR Outsourcing (MRO) sector will grow to around $800m in 2012, from current revenues of c.$148m (2007), according to a new report. The study also warns of challenges in acquiring and retaining talent. Meanwhile another study predicts steady growth for the global information industry as a whole despite more general economic gloom. More

Software giant SPSS has unveiled Viz Designer™, which uses ‘leading-edge’ graphic technology to display results from its Predictive Analytics software more clearly and intuitively. More

Online audience measurement firm comScore expects to double its revenue to $200m in the next two to three years, according to President & CEO Magid Abraham. More

Knowledge process outsourcing firm Mu Sigma has received a $30m boost from investor FTVentures, which will support expansion of the firm’s analytics capabilities delivered from its centre in Bangalore, India. More

TNS has today issued its shareholders with a new statement urging them to reject WPP’s offer for the firm, underlining its strength as a standalone group. More

TNS is to adopt research software provider Vovici’s Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) Platform and Community Builder Model as its standard platform for building custom online panels and communities for its customers. More

WPP has received a qualified approval from the European Commission for its offer to buy TNS. The deal will comply with EU merger rules, provided two divestments are made. More

For the first half of the year, European panels and software firm Toluna has posted a flat pre-tax profit of £1.39m, despite revenue growth of 36% to £8.2m million and organic revenue up 32%. More

US firm Focus Worldwide has partnered with data analytics firm Datatrade in Hong Kong in a move which they say will help multi-national companies launch or grow their marketing throughout Greater China. More

US analysis firm Global Insight is to be acquired by HIS, which provides information and insight on the energy and security markets, the environment and product lifecycles. More

Nielsen has appointed Christophe Cambournac as President, Asia Pacific and India, succeeding Nonoy Niles who will be leaving the company after fourteen years. More

TPI, the outsourcing data and advisory firm owned by Information Services Group (ISG), has launched a new business unit with an independent management team which will provide information and insights to outsourcing and offshoring service providers. More

Online fieldwork provider Research Now has established a joint venture in Shanghai and opened an office in Singapore, while launching eight new Asian panels. More

Panels and software firm Toluna has expanded into the Asia Pacific region with the opening of a new office in Sydney, Australia. Mike Billingsley will head it up, bringing more than 20 years of market research experience. More

204 weeks separate the Beijing Olympics and the start of the next games in London – precisely one week for each country that took part in the events in China. MrWeb will be following a trail across the world for the next four years, each week profiling one country and its research industry, linking also to news, jobs and suppliers. More

GfK is adding to its optical products tracking services in Asia. The firm will soon begin tracking spectacle lens and other optical products in Taiwan, in addition to the existing contact lens retail measurement, and says it will develop new markets in the region. More

Online panel specialist Lightspeed Research has launched a new panel in Belgium which will enable respondents to conduct surveys in either Flemish or French, according to CEO for Europe David Day, who discussed the firm’s plans and strategies with DRNO. More

In the US, Nielsen has appointed Ed Dandridge as Senior VP and Chief Communications Officer, responsible for managing communications between Nielsen and its key audiences and stakeholders inside and outside the company. More

Hajo Riesenbeck is to resign from the Supervisory Board Chairmanship and Presidency of GfK Nürnberg e.V. Riesenbeck was closely associated with the TNS bid, while CEO Klaus Wübbenhorst is said to have been more convinced of the firm's ability to grow on its own. More

WPP said today it would extend its offer for TNS shares to September 26th. Only 11% of shareholders had accepted the offer by today’s 3pm London deadline, already an extension. More

In response to pressure from European Union data protection officials, Internet giant Google has halved the length of time it will retain personal search data; pledging to anonymize IP addresses after nine months. More

Microsoft has revealed that it is selling the Greenfield Online Internet Survey Solutions (ISS) business to ZM Surveys, a ‘shell’ organization affiliated with media-focused private equity firm ZM Capital. Terms were not disclosed. More

In China, mobile ad network operator Madhouse has partnered with research firm iResearch Consulting Group to help inform advertisers and investors about the latest trends in the country’s mobile marketing sector. More

Full service agency Market Probe has extended its international footprint with the acquisition of UP-Point China in Beijing. The company, which will be renamed Market Probe China, has annual revenues of $8m RMB (USD $1.2m). Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More

UK researcher Matthew Lawrence has set up his own agency in Cyprus, offering all aspects of qual data collection and project management. More

In Singapore, Pauline Chia and Andrew Wood have opened Asia Talent – a market research recruitment consultancy, serving the needs of the industry across Asia. More

Malaysian firm Opinion Box, a market research agency that collects data among online community members, is to launch Blue Box, a project management system for use in online surveys and sample outsourcing. More

The European Commission has extended by ten working days its investigation into the potential effect on competition of communication group WPP’s takeover bid for global agency TNS. More

WPP has extended its offer to buy shares in TNS to 3pm London time on September 12th. The company's original deadline passed on Friday with only 8.61% of TNS shareholders accepting its offer. TNS continues to recommend rejection. More

Greenfield Online has revealed the identity of its new potential buyer - Microsoft. Having offered $486m to clinch the deal, the software giant intends to sell Greenfield’s online survey arm and just keep the Ciao comparison shopping web sites. More

Australia-based research software developer QSR International has added Spanish and Chinese language versions to its flagship NVivo qualitative research software tool. More

In India, Chintamani Rao, the CEO of TV broadcaster Times Now, has been appointed as Chairman of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) for a fixed term of two years. More

In the UK, employee-owned investment firm Cedar Rock Capital – the largest shareholder in TNS - is understood to have rejected ad giant WPP’s latest £1.1bn offer. More

Following yesterday’s news that it had shelved plans to acquire UK rival TNS, GfK has bounced back by announcing its highest rate of sales growth since the firm’s IPO in 1999. Organic sales were up 11.4% for the quarter, and 8.4% for the first six months of the year. More

UK marcoms group Aegis has posted overall organic revenue growth of 8.2% for the first half of 2008. Research arm Synovate reports healthy revenue and profit rises but has reduced expectations for 2008 organic market growth to 4.1% from 5.1%, in the light of tough trading conditions. More

Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) has appointed Koh Hwee Hoon as Research Director – Singapore, responsible for co-ordinating and overseeing the company’s research operations in the local market. The firm has also moved in to larger Singapore offices. More

GfK has cancelled plans to acquire UK rival TNS after failing to secure funding for the deal. TNS, whose shareholders must vote this week on the bid of its remaining suitor WPP, also announced 6-monthly results today with revenue and profit rises both in double figures. More

Billionaire investor and Havas Chairman Vincent Bolloré has bought another $376,000-worth of Harris Interactive shares, bringing his stake in the business to nearly 13%. More

Harris Interactive has announced results for its fourth fiscal quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2008. Annual revenue was up 13% to $238.7m, but pro forma organic revenue was down 1%, with a decline of 3% in North American more than cancelling out good growth of 6% in Europe. More

WPP has announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30th June 2008, showing good revenue and profit figures in all regions and for all divisions including insight. While his own firm may be healthy however, CEO Sir Martin Sorrell says the current merger process is ‘not doing [TNS] much good’. More

Australian polling firm Roy Morgan Research has angered the country’s unions by sacking fifty-six interviewers in its Melbourne call centre by email and with little or no warning. More

Company founder Vin Gupta is to receive $10m as part of a severance agreement from ORC-owner infoGroup. The company filed its delayed second-quarter earnings report with the SEC yesterday, revealing that soaring costs reduced quarterly net income by almost 32% to $4.3m despite a 17% increase in revenue to $187.2m. More

Less than a month after removing Vin Gupta from his role as Chairman of database giant and ORC parent infoGroup, the firm’s Board has announced his resignation as CEO. More

Consumer and retail research providers The NPD Group and GfK Chart-Track, and publisher Enterbrain have partnered to produce a single source of data on video game software sales in their respective countries: the US, UK and Japan. More

GfK will use the time available to it before making any offer for TNS, according to CEO Klaus Wuebbenhorst. This is likely to mean September, while WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell will see TNS shareholders vote on his proposals on 29th August. More

Nielsen has reported increased second quarter revenues of $1,304m, up 12% from the same period in the previous year; and a year-on-year rise of 12% in first half revenues to $2,518m. More

Ipsos has posted a 4.5% increase in revenue to Euros 462.8m for the first half of 2008, and organic growth of 8.4%. Four of the firm’s business lines reported double-digit organic growth during the period. More

WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell says GfK is misleading the market about being able to pull together the resources to buy British rival TNS, and about having access to an ‘unidentified but substantial source of capital’. More

In the US, Greenfield Online, which has recently received two takeover offers, has seen a decline in net income to $2.1m, compared with $3.1m a year earlier. More

GlobalNR, a multi-country consortium of independent research agencies, has extended its reach across 21 countries with the addition of seven new members to its network. More

Former ACNielsen Exec Terilyn Reber has established an international coalition of data collection agencies, to offer CATI/WebCATI and online research to clients around the world. More

Panels and research process outsourcing (RPO) firm The Pulse Group has opened a new office in Singapore, its third in the Asia-Pacific region. More

In the US, Greenfield Online has announced that in addition to the offer made by investment firm the Quadrangle Group to buy the company, a second offer has been submitted by an unnamed party to acquire its stock for $17.50 per share. More

GfK is reportedly in talks with private equity house Apax Partners about funding a cash bid for TNS, which last night outlined in a shareholder document why its Board had rejected WPP's most recent hostile bid. More

Indian-based market research outsourcing firm exëvo has launched a Global Technology Panel, comprising more than 125,000 dedicated business and consumer panellists across 15 countries. Meanwhile, Research Now has launched an online panel in India. More

Internet audience specialist Nielsen Online has rolled out its competitive online media intelligence service AdRelevance service in Taiwan. For the first time, the product categories used have been standardised for research on both online and offline media. More

WPP has posted TNS shareholders a formal offer for the company, valuing it at $2.28bn. It includes news of an option to sell TNS’ television monitoring arm TAM to Ipsos, if required to meet EU competition law. More

Pharmaceutical research leader IMS Health has confirmed the acquisition of Russian research and analytics firm RMBC, first announced in January. More

In the US, technology research and consulting firm Forrester has acquired rival JupiterResearch and its parent company JUPR Holdings for $23m in cash plus assumed liabilities. In addition, Forrester has posted Q2 revenue of $63.5m, compared with $55.2m last year. More

In partnership with Digital Media Group (DMG), Nielsen has conducted what it describes as the ‘first ever’ China subway TV rating survey, using an evaluation method that the pair say has never been applied to digital outdoor media until now. More

With just a week to go before the start of the Beijing Olympics, Knowledge Networks (KN) has announced it is to provide overnight data about time spent consuming Olympic content across more than a dozen NBC Universal properties. More

Research and analytics firm Evalueserve is to open its first research centre in Europe, with the establishment of an office in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. More

GfK Asia has released its first Pan Asia contact lens retail forecast, covering sales in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore. More

GfK’s discussions regarding a possible offer for TNS are ‘progressing positively’ the company said today, as it announced a strong order book from the first half of 2008 and a two-week delay in financial reporting. However, TNS has reportedly been talking to Sir Martin Sorrell and scouting for other possible buyers. More

Global PR firm Weber Shandwick has launched the CorpComm Optimizer™, a new, proprietary consultative service designed to help Chief Communications Officers (CCOs) make the best of their role driving business strategy and building corporate reputation. More

China’s national TV network China Central TV (CCTV) will be using analytics firm WebTrends to generate insight about visitors to its web channels during the 2008 Olympics, and customize content for hundreds of millions of Chinese Internet users throughout the games. More

The Board of database giant and ORC owner infoGroup has removed Vin Gupta from his Chairman's role following an investgation which has found him guilty of ‘excessive spending’. In support of the finding, the firm has introduced a new policy which limits directors’ use of company funds. More

Indian regulator TRAI has worried researchers with its recommendations regarding the country’s future TV audience measurement. Its conclusions favour ‘self-regulation’ via the newly constituted BARC body, but recommend the inclusion of government nominees on the latter’s committees. More

Synovate is re-locating UK Head of Business Services Mick Gordon to India to take on overall management responsibility for its offices and operations in the country from September. More

IMS Health has announced second-quarter revenue up 12% (4% at constant currencies) to $600.7m. Operating income rose 11% (1% at constant currencies) to $131.4m. Net income on a GAAP basis was $77.7m, compared with $73.4m in the year-earlier quarter, an increase of 6%. More

GfK is understood to have had talks with European private equity firm Cinven about finance for its bid for TNS. Such a partnership is likely to be treated with caution by major shareholder the GfK-Verein. More

GfK will not take ‘unreasonable’ financial risks in bidding for TNS, according to Klaus Wuebbenhorst. The CEO has played down the pressure on his firm, which is said to be in talks with ‘other wealthy German families’ in addition to the Herz family. More

New Zealand’s Parliamentary Services function has responded to public concern and clarified that MPs are in the clear using consultants for market research and other purposes, provided such use is intended to make MPs better at their jobs, and not for electioneering. More

GfK is said to be discussing financial backing for its counter offer for TNS with Mayfair, the Hamburg investment vehicle owned by billionaire siblings Günter and Daniela Herz, who inherited their wealth from their coffee magnate father. More

German market research agency GfK has stressed today that there is no certainty it will make an all-cash offer for UK rival TNS, after the pair scrapped their plans to merge yesterday. More

GfK, backed by an as-yet unnamed investor, is preparing to make a counter-offer for TNS in response to WPP’s £1.08bn ($2.1bn) hostile bid announced this morning. More

2007 was a mixed bag for US research providers, some reporting impressive growth and others struggling, according to figures in the latest Honomichl 50, just out. Overall, growth was a respectable 6%, the mean of the two previous years, achieved despite a US workforce reduction of c.1,300 among the top 50 firms. More

In the UK Alterian, a provider of analytics and marketing software, has acquired web content management firm Mediasurface, to enhance its services for the measurement of online customer behaviour. The cash and share deal is valued at £18.1m. More

Despite approval from the Board of the GfK Verein, the ‘merger of equals’ with TNS continues to face pressure from two sides: Sir Martin Sorrell, who has one more day to decide for or against a ‘hostile’ bid; and workers and a former Chairman at the German firm he describes as ‘very traditional’. More

NBC Universal (NBCU) is to use the forthcoming Beijing Olympics as a unique testing environment for a more rounded measurement of media consumption, covering a wide variety of media. More

In New Zealand, Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff has urged a legal review to consider the setting up of a national ‘do not call’ database similar to that in the US and Australia. More

The Administrative Board of GfK-Nürnberg e.V. has approved the firm’s merger with TNS, leaving the vote of Verein members on 21st July technically unnecessary, ‘though ‘important’. Meanwhile, the bosses of TNS and WPP have been exchanging increasingly hostile comments. More

TNS has fended off a third approach from communications giant WPP, stating that the bid still substantially undervalues the company. More

The proposed $426m sale of Greenfield Online to media and communications investment firm the Quadrangle Group is being hampered by complaints from investors Springhouse Capital and Pennant Capital that the agreed sum undervalues the company. More

Advertising, marketing and comms agency Omnicom has formed a consultancy, led by a dozen female execs, to help clients make connections with women – whether as consumers, customers, employees or other stakeholders. More

In the UK, the Panel Executive, an independent body which administers the City Code on takeovers and mergers, has ruled that marketing firm WPP must clarify whether it intends to make a firm offer for TNS by 9 July. More

In the UK, Andrew Cooper, Founder and Group MD of online panel firm Research Now, is to step down as part of a restructure designed to streamline management during the firm’s next phase of growth and development. More

In the UK John Napier, the former CEO of market research agency AGB, will join Synovate parent Aegis as Non-Executive Chairman from mid-July, when he replaces Colin Sharman who is retiring after nearly nine years in the role. More

The proposed 'merger of equals' of GfK and TNS faces political opposition in Germany, reports suggest, with some German local authorities represented in the company's majority shareholding 'Verein' saying they will oppose the deal at next Friday's key meeting. More

Panels and Research Process Outsourcing (RPO) firm The Pulse Group has announced its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the PLUS markets in London, with trading commencing today. More

Synovate Healthcare has launched its Diabetes Therapy Monitor in India, linking data about doctors’ prescribing behaviour with patient profiles. More

Pharma and biotech specialist MattsonJack has rolled out its web-accessible epidemiology database in the emerging markets of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India and China. More

Both TNS and WPP have reported healthy revenue growth in the first five months of 2008 - the former doing particularly well in the UK, balancing a slight decline in the US. Meanwhile Martin Sorrell has again asked TNS for more financial information. More

Google has unveiled a free web analytics, research and media planning tool to enable media buyers to determine the web sites where their online ads will have most impact, based on demographics and traffic info. More

Ipsos is to acquire Buenos Aires-headquartered research firm Livra Panels, which provides online panels and data collection services for market research agencies in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets. Terms were not disclosed. More

In Paris, Research International (RI) has promoted Douwe Rademaker to the newly created position of Worldwide Director of Marketing. He was previously MD of Continental Europe. More

In the UK, former NOP owner United Business Media (UBM) has pulled out of talks to buy information group Informa, which acquired Datamonitor last year. More

French financier and Havas Chairman Vincent Bolloré has said he is unlikely to make a sixth attempt to obtain two seats on the Board of Synovate parent Aegis this year. More

European panel and survey technology provider Toluna has bought US-based panel management firm Common Knowledge for an initial $8.49m in cash and a deferred cash sum of $2.16m. More

Consumer and media intelligence firm Mintel has launched China Innovation Spotlight, a series of reports focusing on the latest trends and topical issues in new product development in the region. More

Research and predictive analytics software giant SPSS has launched a text mining tool to enable users to analyze unstructured data from social media, consumer blogs, community boards, e-mail, call center notes, RSS feeds and surveys. More

Greenfield Online is to be sold to private media and communications investment firm the Quadrangle Group for approximately $426m (£217m). More

Online research agency BrainJuicer has opened an office in Switzerland, while also announcing plans to acquire Melbourne-based market research firm The Slater Marketing Group. More

TNS Chief David Lowden has today met with WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell to present him with the data his firm has already disclosed to GfK as part of the nil premium merger announced in April. More

In the UK, insight consultancy Truth has reported rapid growth since its launch last year – with client billings for 2008 forecast to exceed £3.5m. The firm is also considering opportunities for an overseas presence in Asia and the US. More

Synovate has launched a division which will offer an integrated approach to clients across the company’s different service areas, to help them develop more profitable relationships with their customers. More

WPP has refuted TNS’s claim to have provided it with the same information given to GfK as part of the recent merger agreement. Sir Martin Sorrell’s firm says it has only been given access to a subset of the information provided to GfK Verein, GfK's controlling shareholder. More

TNS has agreed to open its books and give WPP the same information it gave to GfK as part of their recent merger agreement. Meanwhile, reports suggest that the GfK-TNS merger may face an EU competition probe; and may be ‘sweetened’ by a cash bonus for TNS shareholders. More

Former NOP owner United Business Media (UBM) is in preliminary talks with publishing group Informa, which acquired Datamonitor last year, over a merger that could create a FTSE 100 global b2b media group worth £3.1bn. More

Pranesh Misra, Global Director Marketing Accountability at Lowe Worldwide, is leaving to launch a new firm offering KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) for marketing data analytics and 'insight mining'. More

Sir Martin Sorrell is said still to be considering this week’s GfK-TNS merger announcement and whether or not to come back with a fresh offer for TNS. Quoted in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, the acquisitive WPP boss described the GfK-TNS proposal as ‘a defensive merger’. More

Google is integrating its Google Analytics traffic analysis tool with its Google TV Ads program. Some observers are interpreting the move as further evidence that the search giant is headed for direct competition with Nielsen. More

GfK is making waves in the burgeoning area of linking FMCG purchases and online ad campaigns, with the launch of a new service, Web Efficiency Panel (WEP). WEP has been developed in partnership with technical solutions provider Nurago and boasts Google as a 'technical advisor'. More

Research International's Nic Hall, a former SAMRA Chairman and currently Director of Market Strategy in the UK, is moving to Singapore to assume the role of Client Service Director Asia Pacific. More

GfK and TNS have agreed the terms for their ‘merger of equals’ to create GfK-TNS plc. Aside from ‘significant opportunities’ for revenue growth, the firms say the move will bring annual pre-tax benefits through cost reduction of at least Euros 97m (£76m) by the end of the third full year following completion. More

infoGROUP, until this week known as infoUSA, is combining two of its market research businesses, recently acquired Guideline and Opinion Research Corporation (ORC), and has placed ORC President Gerard Miodus in charge of all operations for the new unit. More

Survey Sampling International has opened a new office in Seoul, South Korea, and appointed Simon (Quan) Zhang to lead it. Zhang worked previously for Tesco International Sourcing. More

Reports in the UK press have suggested the GfK-TNS merger may be ‘under threat’ after TCS Capital Management, a US hedge fund, reportedly offered its 6% shareholding in the group to would-be TNS buyer WPP Group. More

Indian-based KPO firm Dexterity has appointed Dr. Jayendra Ramesan as Practice Head – Analytics. Dr Ramesan is a former Director, Sales and Marketing Analytics at Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) – USA. More

comScore has announced the acquisition of mobile measurement firm M:Metrics, Inc., for a cash payment of $44.3m and the issue of c.50,000 share purchase options for comScore stock. More

Nielsen has extended its online audience profiling service to the mobile Web. The new service provides marketers and publishers with lifestyle and demographic information for the audience of more than 200 mobile web sites. More

B2B specialist Kadence has officially launched in China with the opening of a Hong Kong office, and says it will launch a Shanghai office before the end of the year. More

The Nielsen Company and its subsidiary Interactive Market Systems (IMS) have announced the launch of IMS Clear Decisions™, a new software platform claiming to simplify access to media and marketing data and speed up the generation of insights from it. More

Research International’s New Zealand MD Colin Yee has been appointed as Chairman of AMRO New Zealand, the country’s Association of Market Research Organisations. Yee has been Deputy Chairman for the past two years. More

At its 2008 AGM, shareholders of Synovate parent Aegis Group plc have rejected the appointment of the nominees of Havas Group Chairman Vincent Bollore for the fifth time in two years. It's another win on points, but it may not be the last in the franchise. More

UK-based specialist B2B International is following up a successful office launch in China last year with a New York office, opening next month. More

GfK’s proposed ‘merger of equals’ with TNS could take place this year or early next, according to comments from CEO Klaus Wuebbenhorst at the German-based firm’s AGM yesterday. Meanwhile shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of converting GfK to a European ‘SE’ style company. More

MrWeb, the world's busiest daily news and jobs service for market researchers, has expanded with the appointment of Chris Jensen as Marketing Executive. Initially, his focus will be on building the site's Asian and US job listings, and its UK and international audience. More

Indian-based KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) firm The Smart Cube will launch operations in Romania and Hong Kong, and will be expanding in the US, the UK and India. More

B2B specialist Kadence has appointed Rowena Lim as Project Director, to support the ongoing expansion of its Asia-Pacific company. More

London-based communications research agency MESH Planning has opened its first office in the Asia Pacific region and appointed former InsightAsia MD Craig Griffin as Managing Director in Singapore. More

In Australia, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has appointed Paul Fisher as its first CEO. He takes up the new post at the beginning of July. More

Ipsos first quarter revenues rose 6.2% to €217.3m from Q1 2007. Despite slow going in North America, global organic growth reached 9.6%, which the firm said exceeded its full-year targets. More

GfK has described its Q1 results as ‘sound’, with organic growth in sales up 5.1% to €268.1m and consolidated total income rising almost 21% to €12.5m. More

Nielsen has reported $1,214m revenues for Q1, an increase of 13% from Q1 2007. Excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, the increase was a healthy 8%. However, the firm still made a net loss from continuing operations of $82m. More

TNS Lanka has launched two new research tools – the first to help marketers measure consumer commitment and loyalty towards their brand, and the second to help HR professionals measure and monitor employee satisfaction. More

WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell has increased his offer for TNS from £948m to £996m (($1.9bn), but has been rejected for a second time by the market research group’s Board. More

IT specialist Springboard Research has appointed Gopalakrishnan Krishnamurthy (GK) as its Vice President of India operations, heading the firm’s Global Research Center (GRC) in New Delhi. More

Greenfield Online, Inc. has reported first quarter results, with rapid revenue growth for its Comparison Shopping business (up 60.3% year-on-year to $10.8m) masking a 3% decline for its Internet survey solutions segment. Greenfield has also agreed in principle to settle a pending class action lawsuit regarding ‘false and misleading’ projections. More

Business information provider D&B last week reported results for the first quarter of 2008, ended March 31st. Revenue rose 8% on the year (excluding currency effects) to $414.7m, of which the Sales & Marketing Solutions division accounted for $109.7m, up 5%. More

GfK CEO Klaus Wübbenhorst has told employees of the German-based global agency that the proposed merger with TNS would mean more jobs, not fewer. Prof. Wübbenhorst said comments suggesting the contrary from WPP’s Martin Sorrell were ‘morally reprehensible’. More

Bodies representing most Indian broadcasters and advertisers have given a thumbs down to the idea of government intervention in television ratings, known as TRPs. More

Pulse Group is to give regional coverage to its online travel survey. Already rolled out in Malaysia with support from Tourism Malaysia, the firm plans to extend the study to other markets including Singapore, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. More

WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell has said that he is surprised and disappointed by TNS’ ‘cavalier’ rejection of his £1bn part-cash / part-share offer to purchase the firm. More

Harris Interactive has reported third quarter fiscal 2008 results showing consolidated revenue up 11% to $57.3m, with a very good performance from newly acquired companies in Asia, France, Canada and Germany. However, due to declines in the US and UK, consolidated pro forma organic revenue dropped 4%. More

US online measurement firm comScore has reported Q1 revenue of $26.4m, up 41% from $18.6m in Q1 2007. Pre-tax net income rose by 165% to $4.2m, net income by 64% to $2.5m and adjusted EBITDA by 104% to $5.6m. More

In the US, Survey Sampling International (SSI) has conducted a study to analyze the motivating psychological factors behind survey participation using a new principle called self-determination theory or SDT. More

In the US, an institutional investor has filed a law suit against ratings giant Arbitron, charging the firm with ‘false and misleading statements’ regarding the roll out of its Portable People Meter (PPM) service. More

UK-based B2B International has opened an office in New York, and transferred Julia Cupman stateside to take on the role of US Business Development Manager. More

UK-based panels firm Research Now is anticipating total revenue for the six months ending 30 April 2008 to exceed £18.5m versus £9.9m last year – a leap of 85%. Operating profit is expected be £2.3m, up from just £300,000 a year ago. More

For the first quarter of 2008, Synovate has seen organic revenue growth of 5% and total revenue growth at constant currency of 9.1%. More

Top five global MR firms TNS and GfK are in discussions about a possible ‘merger of equals’, which would create the world’s second-largest market and information group. More

Last year saw a 3.5% increase in the number of focus groups and other qual market research interviews conducted worldwide, according to FocusVision’s annual ‘Focus Group Index’. The figure matches the previous year’s growth. More

WPP has announced first quarter like-for-like revenue growth of just under 5%. Reported revenues were up 14.1% to £1.56bn for the group and up 11.3% to £227.1m for Kantar, the group’s information, insight and consultancy arm. More

UK based data processing agency MRDC has doubled the size of its operation in Thailand and employed extra staff to man the expanded unit. Employees David Ward and Fiona Turnbull have meanwhile become Directors in the UK. More

Indian company Satyam Computer Services has bought the market research and customer analytics operation of Caterpillar Inc. for $60m (c.£30.2m); and Belgium-based consulting firm S&V Management Consultants for $35.5m (£17.8m). More

The combined value of the world’s top 100 brands – headed by Google – rose by 21% last year, according to the third annual BrandZ ™ Ranking from ROI specialist Millward Brown Optimor. More

In the US, the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR) has responded to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) proposals to regulate online behavioral advertising, by requesting that any definition of the practice excludes survey opinion and marketing research. More

In Sydney Australia, Stuart Pike has returned to Nielsen as Director of Industry Solutions for Nielsen Online, from his previous position of Chairman of the Australian Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) sub-committee for online measurement. More

UK-based retail giant Tesco is working with partner firm dunnhumby to extend its consumer insight and analysis system to match its international footprint, minus the US. The Asian and East European roll-out includes tailored versions of its pioneering Clubcard loyalty programme. More

In the UK, consumer product and media intelligence firm Mintel has bought Snapshots International, a London-based publisher of global market reports. Terms were not disclosed. More

Vincent Bolloré, Chairman of communications group Havas, will make a fifth attempt to secure representation on the Board of Synovate’s parent company Aegis, in which he is the biggest single shareholder. More

GfK has made a series of acquisitions, including Turkish market research firm Bilseim International, the remaining 35% of Swiss oncology specialist GfK Research Matters, the Brazilian MR company Shopping Brazil, and the watch panel set up by French MR agency Société V. More

Panel and software provider GMI (Global Market Insite) has increased the size of its Singapore consumer panel from 40,000 to 85,000 double opted-in members. More

Consumer packaged goods specialist Information Resources Inc (IRI) has partnered with the GfK/TNS-owned Europanel Association to offer what the firms describe as ‘the widest-reaching, single-panel research service in the world’. More

In the US, TNS Healthcare has introduced a new service to help pharmaceutical and biotech companies measure the effectiveness of their own and competitive sales calls. More

US-headquartered data collection firm Western Wats is to add to its presence in the Philippines by opening a new 500-seat call center in Davao City in mid-July. The firm, which also operates in Cebu City, has already invested between P60m and P70m (c$1.5m) in the new operation. More

Millward Brown has promoted Patricia Driver to the newly created position of Managing Director in Singapore, from her existing role as Head of Client Service at the firm’s London office. More

GfK has confirmed a record year of trading in 2007 with organic sales up 5.8% to EUR1,162m. Adjusted operating income rose 4.7% to EUR157.6m and margin crept up to 13.6%. The firm has also announced plans to change its legal form to an SE, or Societas Europaea. More

The Nielsen Company has appointed Justin Garrett as Director, Financial Services in Hong Kong. More

Gallup has announced the official launch of its ‘World Poll’, an annual global survey of opinions and behaviours via interviews in 140 countries representing 95% of the world’s adult population. The firm says it has has committed to conducting the study for the next 100 years. More

Company profiling firm OneSource Information Services will be expanding in the Asia Pacific region, doubling its workforce in Singapore during the forthcoming year. More

US-based automotive research agency RL Polk has released commercial vehicle registration data for China, split for the first time by locality and other variables. More

Luc Rens, Research International’s (RI) Regional Director of Qualitative Asia Pacific, has been given an expanded role as Lead Co-ordinator and Spokesperson for the firm’s worldwide qualitative team. More

Harris Interactive has appointed Stephen Wallace as its new Chief Information Officer, responsible for infrastructure and information security. More

In India, research and analytics firm Dexterity has announced a refocusing of its business on marketing and customer informatics, and appointed former Accenture USA Partner Anantha Krishnan as Chairman and CEO. More

Database giant infoUSA, the parent of Opinion Research Corporation, has announced plans to compile telephone-verified B2B and B2C databases for China and India, in partnership with a number of companies in the regions. More

WPP-owned Research International (RI) is to acquire a majority stake in shopper research specialist Zdology. Financial details were not disclosed. More

Ipsos has acquired agricultural and animal healthcare research firm Forward Research, and also created a joint venture to develop business management consulting in Indonesia. More

Media and market research groups Aegis and Cello, and global MR agency Ipsos have all beaten industry analyst predictions and recorded healthy profits for 2007. More

In the Philippines, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court has suspended proceedings filed by broadcaster ABS-CBN against AGB Nielsen Media research, to allow the parties time to try and reach a settlement. More

Newly formed Millward Brown India has made a number of senior appointments to its Management Board. Managing Director Shishir Varma will be joined by Shiv Moulee, Ritesh Ghosal, Praveen Ramachandra and Pranay Singhvi. More

In the US, Ford Motor has appointed Anne Bélec as Director of Global Marketing, responsible for marketing strategies and processes, brand positioning and consumer insights. More

NWC Opinion Research, the AsiaPac arm of Opinion Research Corporation (ORC), has appointed Joseph Chui as Senior Research Director, leading a team serving local and regional clients based in Hong Kong and Mainland China. More

TNS has grouped several of its North American operating units into a new division, TNS media, with Dean DeBiase as CEO. TNS media intelligence and TNS media research join newly-acquired companies Compete and Cymfony to form the new entity. More

The Nielsen Company continues to break new ground following its rebranding from VNU last year. Today it announced its first global brand awareness campaign, built around a marketing collaboration with The New York Times Company and including sole sponsorship of an Olympics Special issue of the latter’s ‘PLAY’ sports magazine. More

In the US, Gallup and healthcare support provider Healthways have forged a 25-year agreement to measure and track the well-being of communities and companies, as well as the effectiveness of programs implemented to improve health, well-being and productivity. More

US web analytics firm Omniture has partnered with Chinese language Internet search firm Baidu to provide online marketers around the world with access to Chinese consumers. More

Louise McCann, the Chair of Research International Australia, has been given an expanded role within the company’s Asia Pacific (APAC) offices to oversee RI’s commercial operating strategy for the region. More

Boston-based marketing business intelligence (MBI) firm Visual IQ, has opened an office in Kochi, India with a new 24/7 client services centre to support its growing number of European clients and multiple time zones. More

Online panel specialist Lightspeed Research has launched a new weekly omnibus to provide clients with fast access to consumer opinion across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. More

Nielsen Online has promoted Megan Clarken to the position of MD, Pacific to lead the firm’s commercial business in Australia and New Zealand. More

TNS has announced an agreement to acquire online behaviour measurement company Compete, Inc. for US$75m in cash, doubling if targets are met over two years. The company also reported full year results for 2007, with revenue of UK£1,067.7m, representing underlying growth of 5.4%. More

Research Process Outsourcing (RPO) company Pulse Group has launched its second new office of the year, this time in New Delhi, and says it aims to boost client development throughout the South Asian region. Nitin Gulati will lead the new location. More

Beijing-based iSoftStone Information Service Corp is to acquire Seattle, USA-based business and technology consulting firm Akona Consulting. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More

The shift from offline to online research should drastically improve the validity of findings of surveys of Chinese respondents, according to a recent study by Survey Sampling International (SSI). More

Online panel community and survey technology provider Toluna has announced the launch of a Japanese panel community, currently at 25,000 active members and forecast to reach 40,000 by June 2008. More

In the final quarter of 2007 GfK achieved organic growth of 6.5% and a margin of 16.8% – a figure the firm says is the most successful in its history. Based on preliminary data, the group also reported an organic sales increase of 5.8% to Euros 1,162m for the full year. More

AbsolutData Research and Analytics has strengthened its US executive team with the appointment of JR Bult as Senior VP Analytics in Miami; and Client Development Directors Todd Milligan and Jim Huttenberger in San Francisco and LA respectively. More

Ipsos Australia’s public affairs division has joined with Eureka Strategic Research to found the Ipsos-Eureka Social Research Institute (IESRI); bringing together a team of 30 staff focused on issues affecting government and society. More

UK-based consumer insight agency Nunwood has made four new appointments since the beginning of 2008, following organic growth of 'more than 12 times the industry average' during the last year. More

Arbitron and Nielsen have ditched development of ‘Project Apollo’, their much-vaunted scheme to give a better understanding of the link between consumer exposure to advertising through multiple media and shopping / purchasing behaviour. More

In Singapore, IT specialist Springboard Research has appointed Michael Barnes as VP for Software Research. More

Nielsen will soon reach 40,000 households in China through the launch of its Homescan consumer purchase panel in the region. More

Nielsen has appointed Michael Sherrard Executive Director of its FMCG Customised Research practice in Asia Pacific. More

Harris Interactive has introduced a new model for measuring customer loyalty which it claims allows clients to see how changes in service delivery, facilities or any other aspect of their company’s operation will affect business results. More

Research and analytics firm Boston Analytics has launched its Quantitative Marketing Research (QMR) practice headed by former Knowledge Networks VP Murli Rao. More

Online panel specialist Lightspeed Research has appointed Angus Macaskill as VP of Client Operations and Charlie Winn as Panel Operations Director based in the firm’s Sydney office. More

Following the closure of Opinion Research Taiwan (ORT), a number of the firm’s key staff have joined Millward Brown Taiwan. MB has also promoted Deepender Rana to Chief Client Officer Africa Asia Pacific (AAP), and given AAP COO Adrian Gonzalez additional responsibility for Greater China. More

Ipsos has posted full year revenue of Euros 927.2m, up 8.2% on the back of organic growth of 9.1%. Strong performances in Asia Pacific, Latin America and Europe more than offset a slight decline in the group's North American revenue. More

Global b2b research specialist Kadence has reported revenue growth of 18% in 2007, reaching $9.3 million. The group says all its established international offices performed strongly while new locations were launched in Malaysia and Indonesia. More

London-based marketing consultancy kae: marketing intelligence has expanded into Asia and appointed former Synovate Asia-Pac MD Damien Duhamel to head its two new offices in Shanghai and Singapore. More

UK MR psychology specialist CRAMQIQ has partnered with Chinese research agency DiagAid to undertake in-depth consumer and B2B research in the Chinese market. More

Research Process Outsourcing (RPO) firm Pulse Group has opened an office in London headed by Jonathan Sheldrake, who joins as Associate Director for Europe. More

WPP has launched a new research tool to evaluate sponsorship within the arts, music, film festivals, entertainment and sports markets. More

While Internet ratings firm comScore has posted a 39% increase in Q4 2007 revenue to $25.3m, its forecast of lower-than-expected profit for both Q1 and 2008 led to shares tumbling more than 11% in after-hours trading last night. More

In India, MR and data analytics provider Annik has launched a system which enables the creation and delivery of insights from multiple primary and secondary data sources. More

Global agency Millward Brown (MB) and fellow Kantar company IMRB are launching a Joint Venture. MB will take a majority share of the new business, to be known as Millward Brown India, which will start with offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. More

Research and predictive analytics software leader SPSS has debuted the latest version of its Dimensions™ software suite. Dimensions™ 5.0 promises to improve response rates, access to respondents, advanced survey creation and interactive results delivery. More

Harris Interactive has released results for its second quarter and first half of fiscal 2008, ending December 31. Acquisitions drove the overall Q2 revenue figure up 13% on the year, but pro forma organic revenue dropped 2%, mainly due to a 5% decline in North America. More

Online fieldwork and panel specialist Research Now has appointed Peter Blansjaar to head up its operations, project delivery and quality assurance systems in the Asia Pacific region. More

Pharma research leader IMS Health has announced full year 2007 revenues up 12% (a very respectable 8% at constant currency) to $2,192.6m. Operating income for the year was down from $444.2m to $393.3m after a fourth quarter restructuring charge of $88.7m. More

Synovate has appointed Jerome Vadot as its Managing Director in Saudi Arabia and Simon Duval-Kieffer as MD for the Czech Republic. More

IT specialist Springboard Research has hired Bryan Wang as a Research Director focusing on Connectivity. Wang takes responsibility for increasing the firm’s profile in the telecoms, mobility and data communications markets. More

London-based panels firm Research Now has ended the 2007 financial year with a 168% rise in revenue to £25.8m, and has doubled its organic revenue, now £19.2m. More

TNS has merged its Hong Kong and Singapore operations and appointed Wade Garland as MD of the combined group, while existing Singapore MD Grant Bertoli will now manage TNS in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. More

Media and marketing holding group Omnicom has launched a new BrandScience division to focus on the measurement of marketing and media effectiveness. More

Barry Ooi has been named Executive Director Southeast Asia Shopper Insights, Nielsen Malaysia’s newly-established Retailer Practice Group. Richard Hall takes over from Ooi as Executive Director, Retail Measurement Services, while Hanis Harun joins as Executive Director Telecommunications Industry Practice Group, Asia Pacific. More

Research International (RI) is continuing its leadership re-shuffle with the appointments of Kirk Ward to the newly created position of Global Product Development Leader, Andrew Wish to the new title of Worldwide Infrastructure and Operations Director and John McHarry to Chief Information Officer. More

Online research software firm Confirmit has posted a 68% increase in revenue for the final quarter of 2007, including 38% organic growth. The Q4 total of $12.8m includes $2.5m consolidated revenue from the acquisition of MR software firm Pulse Train. More

Nielsen Marketing has appointed Chris Morley as Managing Director, to expand the company’s retail and consumer research capabilities in China. More

In Australia, communications services group STW is splitting its panels business The Online Research Unit (The ORU) from its MR agency AMR Interactive, and has appointed AMR Chairman and Founder Brian Fine to head the offshoot. AMR Interactive will now be run by MD Gary Wilkinson. More

TNS has merged its own continuous research service in China with that of its joint venture CTR Market Research, under the Worldpanel brand. Jason Yu is appointed to lead the newly merged unit as General Manager, TNS Worldpanel China. More

TNS is to offer its researchers across the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region the opportunity to study for the MRS Advanced Certificate in Market & Social Research Practice – the first time the UK-based Society’s qualification has been taught across the region. More

Information services provider The McGraw-Hill Companies has given details of restructuring carried out in the fourth quarter of 2007, with the loss of 600 jobs, c.3% of its workforce. Research company J.D. Power and Associates, a subsidiary, lost around the same proportion of its staff. More

Sir Bernard Audley, whose UK-based company AGB Research became the world’s second-largest market research firm behind AC Nielsen, has died at the age of 83. More

Just seven months after he was appointed MD of Nielsen//NetRatings Australia, Allan Dibb is leaving due to what the firm describes as ‘personal issues’. More

Not-for-profit BSRIA, which provides market intelligence to the construction industry, has opened an office in Beijing to increase its international research portfolio and act as a ‘window’ to other BSRIA services. More

Warner Brothers has promoted Sue Kroll to President Worldwide Marketing - a new position where she will oversee all aspects of the studio’s marketing from market research to campaigns and publicity. More

TNS’s joint venture CSM Media Research has been given the go-ahead to undertake TV and radio audience measurement in China for a further 10 years. More

Synovate has appointed Kiranjit Singh as Business Group Director of its Business Consulting division, based in Malaysia. More

Global marketing communications group Havas has signed an agreement with TNS Media Intelligence (TNSMI), ending its contract with Nielsen Monitor-Plus and making TNSMI its primary provider for competitive advertising intelligence. More

TNS says it expects revenue growth of more than 5% for 2007, based on strong performance in Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. Also this week, TNS Media Intelligence has acquired Irish media analysis firm MediaMarket for an undisclosed sum. More

Internet data collection and comparison shopping firm Greenfield Online has launched a suite of Asia-Pacific online omnibus products for the Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Australian markets. More

GfK has expanded its global network with the acquisition of Australian research firm the Blue Moon Group, while taking a 51% majority stake in Macedonian MR agency Stratum Research. More

In the Philippines, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has dismissed the 'ratings cheat' case brought by television company ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp against ratings firm AGB Nielsen Media Research (AGB), citing the requirement for notice periods in the contract between the two companies. More

Synovate has appointed Pranay Jeyachandran as UK Head of its MarketQuest team, which focuses on product design and development. More

Global pharma research firm IMS Health has announced plans to cut staff numbers by 10% during 2008 in an effort to save money and improve efficiency. More

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has launched a new beta service to make it easier to locate relevant statistical data stored in its multiple databases. More

WPP's brand development business Added Value has acquired US-based consultancy Cheskin. Cheskin Added Value will retain a high degree of autonomy with Darrel Rhea maintaining his leadership role as CEO. More

Audience measurement continues to bring its share of legal problems for Nielsen worldwide. Today, the court in the Philippines ‘bribery’ case ordered a halt in TV audience fieldwork; while in Spain, a newspaper has filed a claim against the ratings giant for losing it ‘$1.4m’ in ad revenue. More

Pharmaceutical and healthcare insight firm Decision Resources, Inc. has acquired Arlington Medical Resources, Inc. (AMR), a provider of market intelligence for the pharma and diagnostic imaging industries. More

Never a dull moment in research in the Philipinnes. More details have been emerging about the suing of Nielsen by a major broadcaster, while the country’s senate is to consider regulation of opinion polls at the bidding of a member who says the alternative is to ‘allow the public survey firms to run the government and society.’ More

Bangalore-based offshore MR provider Markelytics Solutions India Pvt. Ltd is to offer its online MR services to the domestic market too – helped by an expansion of its operations including an additional facility housing a team dedicated to Indian customers. More

From January, GfK will replace its existing five business divisions with three sectors in order to exploit synergies in the cross-divisional use of technology, data collection and the application of methods. The firm has also appointed Debra Pruent to its Management Board. More

Filipino broadcasting firm ABS-CBN has filed a lawsuit against AGB Nielsen Media Research Philippines for gathering and releasing what the firm describes as ‘erroneous’ TV ratings data, following the ‘bribing’ of respondents by one of its competitors. More

The MrWeb site has had its first major overhaul and redesign in several years, including a new logo and frame-free html. More

In Mumbai, TNS India has appointed Dipika Sharma as SVP-People and Culture. Her sixteen years of experience in senior leadership roles include spells as VP-HR for Dow Chemical and Head of HR with Transworld Group. More

Starfish Research continues its advance in the Pacific with the appointment of William Apa as General Manager of operations in the region, based in the firm’s Papua New Guinea (PNG) office. More

TNS has appointed Neerja Wable as CEO India and Sri Lanka, to oversee the implementation of a number of growth initiatives and take responsibility for strategic planning and business development. Wable was previously Chief Client Officer at Millward Brown. More

TNS has announced a 'consolidation' of its Technology research sector in Australia, with the appointments of Jon Foged as National Director of Technology, and Justin Connally and Kim Albert as Directors. More

Sampling solutions provider Survey Sampling International (SSI) has appointed three new VPs to strengthen its global operations. Kim Giangrande will manage Global HR; Suresh Subbiah, Global Client Services and Delivery; and Harold Kelley, Global Marketing. More

Greenfield Online has appointed Mark Shepherd as Director of Internet Survey Solutions, to establish the new Greenfield-Ciao office in Tokyo while helping expand the firm’s Asia-Pacific operations. More

The UK’s ‘Economist’ magazine has rolled out its readership profiling survey, known as ‘Ideas People’, in Singapore, with Hong Kong going live next week. More

Online fieldwork and panel specialist Research Now is aiming to raise £7m by placing 2.33 million shares with institutional investors. More

Technology researcher Springboard has opened a global research centre in Casablanca, Morocco, to serve its clients in the Middle East and Africa. More

One time world-leading PC-maker Dell has announced a new agency agreement with WPP valued at $4.5 billion in billings over three years. The deal envisages a very close partnership within the framework of a new global integrated marketing and communications agency. More

Mitch Barns has been named President of Nielsen Greater China. He will report directly to Nielsen Chairman and CEO David Calhoun, and will serve on the group's Executive Committee. More

WPP’s insight division the Kantar Group is restructuring its media businesses, in response to ‘a rapidly changing media environment’. A newly formed Kantar Media Research (KMR) unit will bring together the media audience measurement assets and talent from across Kantar. More

Aegis-owned Carat Asia Pacific has announced changes in its regional management team, to prepare for a more ‘consumer centric’ and digital era. Will Swayne becomes MD of Carat Hong Kong, while Mr K Subramanian is promoted to Regional Communications Planning Director, based in Singapore. More

Global group Ipsos has bought a controlling share of India's Indica Research and acquired advertising, marketing and CRM specialist ResearchPartner in Norway. More

In Australia, following a three-month review of how online audiences should be measured, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has announced that a panel-based methodology should become the industry standard. Nielsen Online has branded the decision ‘a step backwards’. More

The NPD Group has launched a consumer tracking service for the sports market in Japan. The service covers consumer purchasing, attitudes, and behavior for sports apparel, athletic footwear, and sports equipment. More

In the UK, direct marketing agency Partners Andrews Aldridge is launching a market research business to help clients uncover the insight required to change their customers' behaviour. More

Synovate has appointed former Millward Brown Director Ehtasham Uddin as Director Quantitative in Malaysia. More

In India, outsourcing and panelling services firm Cross-Tab Market Research has initiated a recruitment drive to double its head count to 400 in the next 18 months, and meet projected growth in both its Indian and US operations. More

In the UK, B2B International's founder Nick Hague has become Managing Director, and following a year in China launching the firm’s office in Beijing, Matt Harrison has returned to the UK and been appointed Finance Director. More

UK-based Vox Pops International has launched its own Internet TV service, with access to an archive of filmed consumer interviews; and a youth service comprising video interviews conducted with 15-21 year-olds across China, Germany, Mexico, India, Russia and the USA. More

Photon, the Australian marketing services group which owns MR firms The Leading Edge and DVL Smith, is buying UK-based brand experience agency Sledge for $AUD 9.2m, or £3.95m, plus deferred, performance-related payments. More

Sports and entertainment marketing and MR firm The Bonham Group Europe is to be acquired after just over a year in business by AEG, the company which operates the O2 arena and owns David Beckham’s US team LA Galaxy. More

Ipsos has reported revenues of Euros 664.2m for the first nine months of 2007, and says it is expecting full-year growth of at least 9%. More

TNS has promoted Tania Kulman, General Manager of TNS Sydney, to the role of Australian MD; Jacqui von Hirschberg to ANZ Director of Consumer; and Evette Cordy to Regional Director for the Technology sector in its ALM super-region. More

GfK has announced organic sales growth of 6.7%., and a sales increase of 5.5% to €833.9m for the first nine months of the year. Meanwhile Dr Derek Allen is joining the group in the US as EVP of the GfK Research Center for Excellence. More

Software giant Oracle has launched a 'Data Masking Pack', to help organisations who share information with researchers and others, to hide confidential or sensitive data. More

Nielsen Online has added an additional 12 portals to the list of 40 it currently monitors for its Market Intelligence service in Hong Kong. More

TNS has announced a strategic alliance with Intellidyn, a US-based database marketing and analytic services company focused on the financial sector. The research giant says the merging of the firms’ expertise will help it create a new global practice, TNS Customer Intelligence Consulting. More

Radio ratings leader Arbitron has responded to a strong attack on its PPM device and methodology by the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB). NABOB points to ‘significant flaws’ and ‘tremendous fee increases’; Arbitron says the PPM is tried, tested, audited and better than diaries. More

Online research software firm Confirmit has announced the release of its Confirmit 12 product, which includes what it calls ‘the world's first engine for concurrent sampling’. More

Greenfield Online has reported a 29.9% Q3 net revenue hike to $32.3m, and a 25.4% climb in profits. The firm’s Chairman Peter Sobiloff will step down at the end of the year to be replaced by Joel Mesznik, who has served as a Board member since 1999. More

Arbitron’s Portable People Meter (PPM) rating service has come in for fierce criticism from Bob Neil, President and CEO of Cox Radio, during his firm’s third quarter conference call. More

Starfish Research has launched Online Customer Communities, a service enabling panel members to share experiences, offer advice, brainstorm ideas and comment on market trends. More

Flat panel research specialist DisplaySearch has added eleven new people to its analysis and support teams worldwide. They include Rich Alires as VP of North America Business Development, and Michael Boo, Calvin Hsieh and Hidetoshi Himuro as Directors in Korea, Taiwan and Japan, respectively. More

Synovate parent the Aegis Group has purchased New Zealand-based MR agency Research Solutions for an undisclosed sum. More

Harris Interactive has reported fiscal first-quarter revenue up 17% to $55.2m, mostly due to the inclusion of $6.1m from acquisitions made earlier in the year. Organic growth year-on-year was 4%. More

Microsoft has begun beta testing its new Google Analytics competitor, intended to offer web publishers and adCenter advertisers advanced tools for measuring how people found their sites, and their behaviour once there. More

In the US, a coalition of nine privacy and consumer groups has asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to implement a ‘Do-Not-Track’ list for Internet users who do not want their online activities tracked, stored and used by advertisers and marketers. More

Online measurement firm comScore has reported a 39% increase in revenue to $22.4m for the quarter ended 30 September 2007. This compares with an increase of 8% for the second quarter of the year. More

TNS has announced a global quality programme for its panels, Six Degrees of Online Quality - to begin next year. More

Nielsen Media Research is commencing the Singapore launch of the Nielsen Personal Outdoor Device (Npod), and plans to launch the measurement system in Hong Kong in the near future. More

Technology consultancy Gartner, Inc. has reported results for the third quarter, with rapid growth in its Research business segment. The segment represents almost two thirds of its revenue and in Q3 saw contract value rise 18% year-on-year to a record $704.7m, following investment in its sales force. More

Global agency Fieldwork International Healthcare has launched an online panel in Japan, providing access to more than 150,000 physicians. More

Online competitive intelligence service Hitwise is launching ‘New and Returning Visitors’, the latest feature for its Clickstream service. The new data will split web site visitors into new and repeat traffic, with information on where each type comes from and goes to. More

Two European online ad bodies, IAB Europe and the EIAA, are to collaborate to develop ‘standard, comprehensive international definitions’ for interactive audience measurement. The standards will cover site-centric, user-centric and combined measurement systems. More

Nintendo has transferred Shigeyuki Takahashi – President of the firm’s research arm Nintendo Research – to his new role of Executive VP, Special Assignments based in the US. More

European-based online panel provider ToLuna has hired Lowell Ricklefs as Group Chief Operating Officer, to assist the firm with it's global ambitions. More

IT and BPO outsourcing firm Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is to acquire NJ-based Life Sciences analytics firm marketRx, Inc., for c.$135m in cash. More

Nielsen has announced a massive, ten-year outsourcing deal with India’s Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The research giant’s IT, operations and HR functions worldwide are among those covered by the $US 1.2 billion agreement. More

WPP has reported third quarter revenues up 4.9% to £1.48 billion – a rise of 8.1% in constant currencies. The Information, Insight and Consultancy division underperformed the group as a whole but grew a respectable 4.8% at constant currencies, to £218.5m. More

Synovate China has launched a bi-monthly online omnibus to offer clients access to Chinese consumers’ tastes, habits and attitudes. More

CSM Media Research – a TNS joint venture with Chinese MR firm CTR Market Research – is about to commence field tests of Arbitron’s Portable People Meter (PPM) to measure radio audiences in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. More

In China, GfK has acquired Sino-MR and China Market Monitor (CMM) which both specialise in research into consumer electronics, domestic appliances and retail telecoms products. The firm has also taken over a contact lens and cleaning product panel from Nielsen in Japan. More

In the third quarter of the year, MR software firm Confirmit has increased its revenue by 82% to $8.9m, while operating profits were $833,000, 50% higher than in Q3 2006. More

Starfish Research has followed up its recent launch of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) first syndicated consumer study with the opening of an office in the capital, Port Moresby. The location will serve as its regional office for research conducted in PNG and the South Pacific. More

TNS has announced two global leadership appointments. Leendert de Voogd is promoted to Global Sector Head, Political and Social, replacing Marita Carballo who leaves to pursue ‘academic and other interests’; while former Dell man Renaud Collery is appointed as Head of Global Operations. More

B2b specialist Kadence has made ten new appointments, reflecting significant business growth across its worldwide operations. Two people join the firm’s UK headquarters in London and eight more are added to offices in Boston, Malaysia and India. More

Synovate has announced three key promotions to leadership positions in its Global Qualitative function. Steve Hales becomes Head of Clients; Sue Phillips Training and Development Director; and Steve Wolf, Commercial Director. More

In the US, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has announced the release of final guidelines for ad impression measurement in Rich Internet Application (RIA) environments. It also published a report on the state of in-game advertising. More

San Francisco-based translation services and technology firm Elanex, Inc. has acquired market research publisher and business information provider Reports From China. More

Top ten global research agencies IMS Health and Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) have announced a global, multi-year alliance to provide intelligence, analytics and consulting for the consumer health marketplace. More

YouGov has announced results for the financial year ended 31 July, with group turnover up 51% to £14.3m, profit before tax and goodwill up 39% to £5.7m and both global acquisitions and launches in new sectors promising another buoyant year to come. More

Arab Internet portal Maktoob.com has launched a syndicated mobile study, polling 1,000 mobile users in each of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and 700 each in Jordan and Lebanon. More

India’s audience measurement agency TAM has confirmed that its Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) survey will go ahead this month using Diary methodology, despite concerns expressed by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) that the technology is not sufficiently robust. More

Synovate Healthcare has launched a new syndicated service which it says will provide clients with a holistic view of pharma companies’ relationships with their key stakeholders. More

Synovate Censydiam co-founder and former CEO Jan Callebaut has left his part-time consultancy post with Synovate after just four months. More

Recruitment consultancy Pricejamieson, whose specialist teams cover marketing and digital communications in addition to MR, is expanding its research services to Asia Pacific. Senior Consultant Rowan Haylett moves from the London office to parent company Aquent in Australia. More

Kantar firm AMRB has launched a new business-to-business and industrial research division (BIRD) in a move to strengthen its presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. More

The Sri Lankan arm of brand evaluation and strategy firm Brand Finance has launched its ‘Brand Ratings’ scheme, which enables brands to benchmark themselves against top performing competitors. Partner TNS Lanka will provide the research component. More

The Nielsen Company has laid off 1,250 of its staff, but says the losses are probably ‘the last for some time’ and the total of c.4,000 redundancies originally planned for 2007 will not be reached, according to Reuters. More

The biggest challenges faced by data miners are dirty data, data access, and explaining data mining to others, according to a survey of more than two hundred professionals worldwide, by Rexer Analytics. More

Retail info giant IRI has appointed John Freeland, an Accenture veteran most recently President-Worldwide Operations for salesforce.com, as its new President and CEO. He succeeds Scott W. Klein, in the roles since January 2004, who moves up to IRI’s parent, Symphony Technology Group. More

TNS will be merging its Media Intelligence and Media Research (iTRAM) units into one, in an effort to further develop its TV and online audience measurement services. More

Consumer psychology research specialist Synovate Censydiam has developed a suite of interactive tools. They include a panel of respondents with shared contextual motivations, and a tool for conducting pre-field interactive chat sessions. More

TNS India’s Managing Director Mr R Suresh is to leave to pursue other interests outside the industry, after almost two decades with the company. More

Indian research and analytics firm Annik has opened an office in Florida, US and appointed Ron Brotherton to lead business development for its Analytical Processing Division. More

Nielsen Media Research has informed its TV network and syndication clients that its Monitor-Plus tracking system is struggling to identify some new forms of ‘live’ TV advertising; and asked them to work with it to solve the problem. More

UK researchers scooped four of the five ESOMAR annual excellence awards presented at the final session of the association’s 60th Congress in Berlin, with David Smith of DVL Smith Group taking home the top John Downham Award and a prize of €10,000. More

Researchers worldwide expect another year of increased use of online data providers and access panels, according to the Online Research Barometer conducted by Greenfield Online and Ciao Surveys. The firms also highlight the healthy state of the b2b research market. More

Ziment has announced the worldwide launch of ‘Benchmark Discrete Choice’, its system for determining the market potential of pharmaceuticals compounds in early- and late-stage development. More

The 60th ESOMAR Congress has kicked off at the Intercontinental Hotel in Berlin, offering an astonishing variety of fare including a children’s choir, researchers both navel- and future-gazing, a very tall and celebrated film director, and three Scottish ladies on MR’s contribution to the ‘joy’ of ‘doing it with the lights on’. More

TNS has unveiled BriefScape, a research product for the early stages of brand communications development. The global agency says its range of offerings in the area now constitute ‘a research solution for the complete brand communications lifecycle’. More

Papers at today’s ESOMAR Congress looked at 60 years of the development of research within electronics manfacturer Philips; and at the successful repositioning of the sagging SlimFast brand. More

In the UK, holding company Optimisa has launched a cash offer for marketing services group EQ worth £6.4 million. More

Dallas-based MR and data analytics provider Denuo Source has hired Rahul Chowdhury as President and CPO (Chief People’s Officer), to head the firm’s worldwide HR operations and maintain client relationships in the Asia Pacific region. More

Specialist MR recruiter Kate Langford has left PriceJamieson after eight years to work at rival consultancy Elizabeth Norman International (ENI). More

Synovate parent, The Aegis Group has posted an 8.7% increase in first-half pre-tax profits, while confirming that Synovate continues to outperform expectations, having grown almost twice as fast as its market. More

Software and panels provider GMI has partnered with Amsterdam-based MR firm DervalResearch to launch SLIC (Second Life Interview Corner), claiming to provide a new perspective on conducting one-to-one research interviews in a virtual environment. More

Former TNS China General Manager Paul Zhou has left to set up a new agency called Illuminera in Shanghai. More

Database giant Experian has launched a new global image and identity which includes a re-vamped logo and tagline. The firm has also appointed Tony Pullen as Managing Director of its Business Information Division in Nottingham, UK. More

Nielsen Media Research in China has promoted Rita Chan to the post of Executive Director of Sales & Client Services, more than 25 years after she joined the group. More

Synovate Healthcare has launched The Synovate Healthcare India Oncology Monitor, which it says is the first of its kind in the country. More

Marketing services group Omnicom has acquired majority ownership of Consultech, a healthcare market research, marcoms and strategic planning consultancy based in China. More

TNS has today released unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2007. The firm says underlying revenue growth of 5.9% and operating profit up 8.9% to £45.4m show the successful implementation of a strategy commenced last year. More

In Australia, Coffey International Limited is paying AUS $4.0m to acquire Stratcorp Consulting Pty Ltd, a boutique consultancy providing strategic advice for large sporting and leisure projects. Coffey will merge the firm into a new high-end consulting division. More

Nielsen has announced it will shortly begin the syndicated measurement of professional healthcare web sites. The research giant says the move will create a new standard for measuring healthcare professionals' activity on the Internet. More

Measurement firm comScore has been suspended from online privacy organisation TRUSTe’s Trusted Download Program (TDP), after a comScore distributor broke its rules on getting user consent for downloads. More

Massachusetts-based search engine firm Northern Light has launched an IT analyst research solution called Analyst Direct to help technology marketers search reports from multiple research firms simultaneously. More

Millward Brown has enhanced its LINK™ suite of advertising research tools to help advertisers understand the overall effect of their multimedia communications. The new LINK360 tools will help to measure the impact of online video, blogs, print, TV, radio, outdoor and online campaigns. More

Nielsen has signed an agreement with business intelligence (BI) and performance management firm Cognos, to use its Cognos 8 Business Intelligence software to deliver integrated information services to its clients and accelerate the growth of its Nielsen Answers™ solution. More

The Nielsen Company has appointed Christophe Cambournac as MD for Bases Asia Pacific, located in Hong Kong. He succeeds Marc Lagrois who stays within the firm but will return to the US. More

Harris Interactive has announced results for the fourth quarter and its full fiscal year 2007, ending 30th June. Fourth quarter revenue declined to $57.1m – down 3% from the same period a year ago – and full year revenue was $211.8m, similar to figures a year ago and well down on forecasts made then, of $230-240m. More

In the US, the Web Analytics Association (WAA) has published an expanded set of metrics definitions covering visits, content, and conversion, which it says promote a better overall understanding of web analytics. More

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is to get its 'first' annual syndicated research study, courtesy of Starfish Research (Asia-Pacific). More

MrWeb has announced a partnership with the US-based association MRA (Marketing Research Association). The deal aims to give MRA members access to daily updates of global news and job vacancies while promoting MRA’s services and programs to readers of Daily Research News. More

UK-based pollster YouGov has signed a joint venture with Photon Group, owner of several MR agencies, to establish an online panel business, YouGov Australia. The partners hope to build a panel of 50,000 adults in time to cover the country’s forthcoming federal election, in October. More

comScore has updated its qSearch analytics suite to encompass market share measurement of the five major US search engines; the top 50 most trafficked properties where search activity is observed; and vertical search locations such as eBay, Amazon and Expedia. More

Flat panel technology specialist DisplaySearch is to begin tracking the DVD sector, and has hired Paul Erickson to lead this unit. Takao Tsukahara also joins, with a remit to expand the firm’s research into small and medium display markets. More

Harris Interactive has acquired research firms Decima in Canada and MarketShare in Asia Pacific in deals with a combined value of more than $24 million. More

Online research is cheaper but more profitable, says WPP, and that’s why its research division’s revenues are stagnant while its margins are buoyant. The Group’s information, insight and consultancy firms saw organic growth of only 1.3% in Q2, but gross margin improved 5.9%. More

Ipsos and Nielsen have reported results for the first half of the year. Ipsos increased revenue by 8.7% over the year earlier period to €443.1m, while Nielsen’s grew from $2,019m to $2,241m. More

German fragrance and flavourings manufacturer Symrise has opened a Sensory and Consumer Science Centre in Singapore, which includes rooms for focus groups, panel-training rooms and individual sensory-test booths. More

Greenfield Online has announced good second quarter results for its survey solutions and comparison shopping businesses, with the latter particularly strong. Both divisions saw double-digit growth in revenue, as did overall operating income and adjusted EBITDA. More

Online competitive intelligence provider Hitwise has launched ‘Hitwise Widget’, which will supply online usage trends from its ‘Hitwise To Go’ RSS-based feed. The feed provides stats on online behaviour for the US, UK and Asia Pacific markets. More

GfK has reported first half results which are ‘moderate compared with the highly successful prior year’. Business in two divisions, Custom Research and HealthCare, fell short of expectations, although others forged ahead giving respectable overall organic growth of 4.9%. More

Lightspeed Research has begun the roll-out of a global service offering consumer surveys via mobile devices, with initial launches in Great Britain and Australia. The firm says it plans to expand into the US and other countries in Europe and Asia Pacific over the next few months. More

Mark Cranmer, who replaced Roger Banks as Global CEO of Research International only last year, will himself be leaving the post by the end of 2007. Bob Meyers, currently completing his term as CEO of Millward Brown, will replace him. More

B2b specialist Kadence is boosting its Asia Pacific presence with the launch of new offices in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. More

The Nielsen Company has launched NielsenHealth, offering clients ‘consumer centric’ analytical tools to more effectively understand and address the attitudes, behaviors and needs of patients and physicians. Matthew Dumas becomes its MD. More

MR outsourcing specialist and panel provider Pulse Group is launching a new qualitative division, including state-of-the-art viewing facilities for focus groups. Qual veteran Chan Choy Ping, previously of NFO and Synovate, will lead the division. More

Private equity firm SV Investment Partners has acquired FocusVision Worldwide, Inc., which provides video transmission and digital recording technologies for the qualitative MR industry. SV’s partners include former NOP boss William ‘Jay’ Wilson. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. More

Lightspeed Research has announced the launch of a new GB Sports Panel. The panel pre-identifies consumers on the basis of sports watched and participated in. More

IMS Health has named Kevin Knightly in the new role of Senior VP, Business Line Management, and promoted Adel Al-Saleh to replace him as President, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). More

The world’s pharmaceutical companies have been hiring market researchers at a rapid rate in the last year, according to a report from sector specialist Cutting Edge Information. Overall MR headcount is reportedly up an average of 21%. More

YouGov has announced a major expansion of its international presence, completing its buy of US-based Polimetrix and also acquiring Nordic agency Zapera, while raising around £27m by means of an institutional share placing. More

Comperio Research, the research arm of sports, entertainment and media vompany IMG, has opened an office in Melbourne, Australia, with a full-service quant and qual offering. Research Director Iain Barnett leaves the London HQ to head up the new operation. More

TNS has appointed two VPs in India - Parijat Chakraborthy for Technology Research and Anuradha Agadi to manage Human Resources for its domestic business. More

Online measurement firm comScore has announced results for the quarter ended June 30, with revenue up 23% on the year to $20.8m. It also reports a growth in the proportion of its income from subscriptions, and strong investment for the future. More

OTX (Online Testing eXchange) has announced the expansion of its International Film Tracking service to cover Russia and China, giving clients weekly reports on consumer awareness of and interest in feature film releases. More

Synovate owner Aegis Group plc has agreed to acquire the consolidated Ion Global network from CDC Corporation. Ion is a digital marketing specialist with businesses in Seoul, San Francisco and Hong Kong, and its services include consulting and user experience analysis. More

Greenfield Online, through its subsidiary Ciao, has expanded its presence in the Asia Pacific region by adding Greenfield-Ciao in Shanghai to existing offices in Sydney, Australia and Gurgaon, India. More

Ben Dixon will take up his new role as Managing Director of Millward Brown’s Australian business in September, after nine years working with Nielsen. More

Automotive research specialist R.L. Polk has agreed to acquire a majority interest in ROADTODATA, a supplier of real-time automotive price and specifications data with operations in Europe, South America and Australia. More

Ipsos Interactive Services (IIS) has launched a global division that will focus on research using client supplied or specialist sample data. More

WPP subsidiary Ogilvy Healthworld has agreed to acquire 70% of South Korea’s Pharmax Research & Consulting. More

Synovate has made senior hires for its Delhi and Mumbai offices. Jaisy Desai will head up qualitative research for the Western Indian market, and Meeta Luthra, Deepak Dasila and Sumit Arora join at AD and Senior Project Director levels. More

Retail information provider The NPD Group has opened a Beijing office and launched a service tracking sales of prestige beauty products in China, covering the fragrance, make-up, and skincare businesses. More

Asian-based outsourcing and online panel firm the Pulse Group has officially opened the doors to its New York City office with industry veteran John Saez at the helm, while in Kuala Lumpur the firm has made an additional seven senior hires. More

Kantar, WPP's Information, Insight and Consultancy division, has appointed leading design consultant Aziz Cami as its first Creative Director. He takes up the position next week. More

American Matthew Fagan, accused of killing Research Now Finance Manager Cathy Marlow, pleaded not guilty to the murder at the Old Bailey in London on Friday. His trial will now commence in the last week of February next year. More

Google yesterday reported a 58% year-on-year increase in Q2 revenue, but a decline in profits saw its share price fall more than 6.5% in the day. Recent comScore figures for search engine share show a rare dimple in the market leader’s long-term growth, with Microsoft the main beneficiary. More

Pharmaceutical and healthcare intelligence giant IMS Health continues its recent growth, today announcing second-quarter revenue up 11% on the year (8% at constant currencies) to $537.5m. More

In India, newly launched news and entertainment TV network INX Media has hired media measurement veteran Tapan Pal as Chief Research and Analytics Officer. More

Online panel specialist Lightspeed Research, and Millward Brown’s operation in China – Millward Brown ACSR (MB-ACSR) – have formed a partnership to offer a global research panel and data collection service throughout the Chinese marketplace. More

Synovate is restructuring its Asian business with future growth in mind. To support the changes, in August the firm will be making a number of senior promotions in China, North Asia, South Asia and Korea. More

Pharmaceutical companies have decreased their US MR budgets by an average of 22.7% since last year, but increased them elsewhere in the world, according to a new study by Cutting Edge Information. More

Nielsen has promoted Lisa Lee to the role of Senior Vice President, International Communications, where she will take responsibility for all corporate and marketing communications outside North America. More

Millward Brown has moved its Africa Asia Pacific regional COO, Adrian Gonzalez, from Sydney to Beijing, effective 3 August 2007. More

Synovate owner Aegis Group plc has appointed Chantal Restivo-Alessi, formerly of EMI, as Head of Strategy and Corporate Development. More

MR software companies Confirmit and Pulse Train have completed their previously announced merger and announced increased revenue of 34% and pre tax profit of 65% for the second quarter 2007. More

Kadence Asia Pacific has appointed Joseph Tan to its newly created role of Fieldwork Client Services Manager, to provide a central contact for international clients looking to undertake research in the region. More

In Mumbai, Synovate has appointed Mulraj Gala as Finance Head, Sanskrati Sail as Head of HR and re-hired Pranay Dankedar as Senior Project Director in its quant research division. More

NetRatings has announced the addition of ‘Total Minutes’ and ‘Total Sessions’ metrics to its syndicated audience measurement service NetView, in line with changing attitudes to what constitutes a successful web site. More

Gurgaon, India-based consulting firm Tecnova has its eye on a 'mullti-million dollar' MR acquisition in eastern Europe, according to reports in The Times of India. The firm also plans partnerships elsewhere in Asia. More

TNS has issued a trading update, ahead of reporting interim results on 3 September. The group says its previously troubled US custom business has returned to growth and expects underlying organic revenue growth of over 5% for the first six months of 2007. More

J.D. Power and Associates has strengthened its Asia Pacific management team with the promotions of John Humphrey, Dan Pavlinac and Tim Dunne. More

Online fieldwork and panel specialist Research Now has reported a pre-tax loss of £235,000 in the first half of its financial year, but also a strong start to the second half with record sales in May and June. More

infoUSA-owned Opinion Research has bought Melbourne-headquartered NWC Research, headed by current AMSRS President Greg Wayman, in a move to expand its presence into the Asia Pacific region. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. More

Ipsos has announced the acquisition of Australian agency Eureka, a specialist in public opinion, social and CRM research, headed by former AMSRS President John Sergeant. More

Synovate Healthcare has launched an online Psychoses Therapy Monitor, its first venture into coverage of psychiatric treatment. Initial waves in the five biggest European economies will be followed by a US launch soon. More

TNS has acquired Auckland-based Conversa Global, creating what it says is New Zealand’s largest research consultancy. The global group’s NZ business will be merged with Conversa Global to form a new company, TNS Conversa. More

Research Now has seen its share price plummet by around half in the space of two days, after a profits warning with the identification of further unrecorded costs of £0.6m in the first half of the year. More

Online ad spending in the UK is growing much faster than in the US and other developed nations, according to eMarketer: this year the UK should account for more than half of all online ad spending in Western Europe. More

Panels provider Research Now has launched a multi-country online qual focus group facility, offering clients online groups in a chat-room-style environment similar to that seen in online communication tools such as MSN Messenger and Skype. More

The Nielsen Company China and membership organisation The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) have announced a broad strategic partnership to deliver statistics, analyses and forecasts to the region’s travel and tourism industry. More

Database giant infoUSA has entered an agreement to acquire customised business research and competitive analysis firm, Guideline in a $41.6 million deal. The transaction is likely to contribute to earnings in 2007 and is expected to be completed by the third quarter. More

Mumbai-based Ugam Solutions has hired former RONIN General Managers, Simon Glanville and Rafal Gajdamowicz, as Managing Director and Executive VP of its new multi-lingual data collection centre in London. More

Nielsen is acquiring San Francisco-based syndicated telecom MR firm Telephia, in a move designed to accelerate measurement of consumer behaviour across the $350 billion mobile phone sector. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. More

Financial information provider Xinhua Finance Limited (XFL) has launched a new barometer of Chinese consumer outlook, compiled by financial and consumer tracker eziData. More

Following a two-year research programme which has seen Tesco’s US CEO Tim Mason and his team invest thousands of hours investigating the needs of the American consumer, the supermarket giant will be launching its Fresh & Easy stores in the US by the autumn. More

Box office measurement division Nielsen EDI has expanded its coverage to include Japan and South Korea, the two largest box office markets in Asia. More

Online measurement specialist comScore has opened its first customer service office in the Asia Pacific region - comScore Japan KK - and has appointed industry veteran Mr. Maru Sato as its MD. More

The Nielsen Company has completed its merger with NetRatings, Inc. NetRatings becomes a privately held company, wholly owned by Nielsen and its subsidiaries, and with its shares delisted on Friday from the Nasdaq Global Market. More

Harris Interactive has introduced GlobalSynch(SM), an integrated, web-based platform giving fast and easy real-time access to research data collected anywhere via any method. More

Global spend on business information will grow at 5.8% a year to around $111bn in 2011 from $83.5bn in 2006, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. More

Mumbai-based research and data analytics firm Ugam Solutions is planning to open a London operations centre in mid-August, from which it will offer multi-lingual project management and data collection services. More

Asia's online fieldwork and outsourcing firm, The Pulse Group, will open its first US office in New York City in July, headed by former Survey Sampling (SSI) researcher John Saez. More

The Nielsen Company has promoted Paul Richmond to the position of MD of ACNielsen in Singapore and Malaysia. He takes over from Ashok Charan, who moves to a newly established Regional Client Service role. More

Advertising industry pioneers George Wiedemann and Kenneth Lomasney have established Wiedemann & Lomasney (W&L), a holding company aimed at creating a ‘customer centric marketing services firm’. The partners plan to announce a first buy before the end of the month. More

India’s first syndicated audience measurement system for outdoor media has been launched by The Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research in the shape of the Indian Outdoor Survey (IOS). More

Google has cut the length of time it keeps users’ personal search data from ‘18-24 months’ to a maximum of 18 months, following questioning by European Union data protection officials. The firm says the limit balances privacy with considerations of ‘security, innovation and compliance’. More

Having announced its plans to go public earlier in the year, online audience measurement firm comScore has now confirmed its initial public offering of 5 million shares valued at an estimated price of between $14 and $16 per share. More

Database company and ORC owner InfoUSA has survived an attempt to unseat three of its directors at last week’s AGM; but continues to attract heated criticism from minor shareholders including Dolphin Limited Partnership and Cardinal Capital, who last month filed a mismanagement lawsuit. More

Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) has rolled out its Out-of-Box-Experience (OoBE) research service in the States to allow clients to view firsthand how their customers react to a new or existing product from the moment that they receive and open the box. More

A study sponsored by the Web Analytics Association (WAA) suggests that in most organisations (82% of those polled) the subject is poorly understood, and those who interact with web data do not understand what the data actually means. More

TNS has launched a new survey tool, Revenue Growth Manager (RGM), to help clients evaluate which marketing investments are likely to reap brand revenue growth. More

In a week when one particular Olympic brand – the peculiar new London 2012 logo – has dominated many headlines, Nielsen Sports is expanding its FANLinks™ service to identify where Olympics fans shop and which brands they buy. More

Indian media researcher TAM has moved into radio measurement, citing rapid growth in advertising in the sector, and is also considering an out-of-home service. More

Synovate UK has launched a media research offering based on the consumer motivation model developed by the global group's Censydiam practice. The company plans to roll out the offer across Europe and Asia. More

Ipsos has appointed former AOL Time Warner HR professional, Lisiane Droal as Global HR Executive VP, and former ACNielsen Executive Tom Markert as CEO for Ipsos Loyalty. More

Japanese MR firm INTAGE has bought healthcare research specialist TM Marketing for an undisclosed sum. TM will absorb INTAGE’s own medical research department and continue trading under its existing name. More

Synovate has introduced a suite of market potential models and simulators known as MVP – Market Value Potential; and has renamed its specialist Product Design & Development division ‘MarketQuest’. More

US professional body MRA (Marketing Research Association) has launched an online rating system, the Exchange Evaluation Program (EEP), allowing researchers and client companies to rate their experiences with suppliers, products and services. More

The Nielsen Company has reported revenues for the first quarter of 2007 up 5% over the same period last year, helped by a strong performance (up 7%) from its Media Research division. More

Euroean-based online panel provider Toluna has announced the launch of its 15,000 strong Chinese panel community. More

India’s Hansa Research has taken an equity stake in US-based Gartner offshoot GCR Custom Research, and announced a partnership to expand both company’s services in the US and globally. More

Communications watchdog the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has backed down on plans to prevent researchers from making calls on Sundays. More

Aegis investors today rejected Vincent Bolloré’s fourth attempt to seek representation on the firm’s board, as the group reported first quarter 2007 revenues up 4.6% (10.8% at constant currencies), led by market research arm Synovate. More

Greenfield Online has formally split its European subsidiary Ciao into two separate entities: the booming comparison shopping business will retain the short name Ciao, while the Internet survey solution wing, also growing fast, will be known as Ciao Surveys. More

Call centre company Global Hotline has launched a new data mining and market research service, through its network of call centres in Japan. More

MR software companies Confirmit and Pulse Train are to consolidate their businesses and product portfolios. More

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) will work to ‘educate’ the marketplace about the different ways of measuring web site traffic, the body revealed this week. The commitment was made as NetRatings and comScore both agreed to audit timetables at their recent closed doors meeting. More

Pharma research firm Decision Resources has announced that Providence Equity Partners has acquired majority control in the company. The firm says it will use the cash to fund its growth. More

A month after Google bought DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, Microsoft’s plans to acquire Internet ad agency aQuantive for $6 billion will provide its Ad Center clients with insight on which ads and keywords are most profitable. More

LRA Worldwide, a customer experience management firm which conducts mystery shopping exercises in the hospitality sector, has promoted seven staff to the post of Senior Consultant or Account Manager. More

The Nielsen Group has launched Brand3 – ‘Brand Cubed’ – linking retail market measurement data, household panel information and customised survey results to provide clients with a holistic perspective of a firm or product’s brand equity. More

Internet specialist Greenfield Online has posted strong revenue growth to $27.5m for Q1 2007, up from $21.5m in same period last year. The group’s comparison shopping business led the charge, but online survey revenue grew an impressive 14.3%. More

Business processing and contact centre outsourcing firm, Foxgate Solutions, has opened a new call centre in Cebu City in the Philippines, to service clients in the US, UK and locally. More

Ipsos has announced a strong first quarter with revenues up 8.9% to Euros 204.7m. Organic growth was 10.3%, the highest for a first quarter since Ipsos’ IPO in 1999. More

The GfK Group has announced healthy first quarter results with sales up 5.2% to Euros 261.3m, with organic growth of 6.8%. Margin was up from 8.5% a year previously to 9.5%, and adjusted operating income rose by 17.3% to Euros 24.8m. More

Management consultancy Accenture has bought Sydney-based media auditor MediaSenz, in a move it says will improve its coverage of emerging markets. More

London-based academic and business publishing and events group, Informa, has agreed to buy rival market intelligence firm Datamonitor in a £502 million ($993 million) cash deal. More

Online audience measurement firm Hitwise has launched a new service, Hitwise To Go, an RSS-based service providing updates on online consumer activity and statistics. The firm say the key audiences are journalists and academics. More

Einat Offer has joined research and analytics firm, Evalueserve, as its Client Executive based in Israel. Offer founded and led research agency Siterix Communications. More

GfK is planning to further expand its operations eastwards with acquisitions of Chinese competitor agencies Monitor and Sino Market Research, according to a report in the China Business Post. More

Havas Chairman Vincent Bollore has taken a break from rocking boats at regular Aegis shareholder meetings to provide one for newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The right wing leader is celebrating his win with several days in the Med on the investor’s 200-foot yacht. More

Nielsen Media Research has launched a service to track Internet advertising spend in Singapore, through its Advertising Information Services (AIS) unit. More

Nielsen//NetRatings has launched a new syndicated measurement service dubbed VideoCensus, which combines panel and census methodologies to gauge audience size, demographic composition, engagement and competitive activity for video content. More

The man accused of murdering Research Now Finance Manager Cathy Marlow appeared briefly today at London’s Old Bailey. US citizen Matthew Fagan entered a plea, the case for which will be heard on June 29th. One count of burglary was added to the murder charge. More

Harris Interactive CEO Greg Novak has apologised to shareholders as the company reduced its earnings projections and reported a mere 1% rise in Q3 revenue totals. However, he told DRNO this afternoon that ‘Our strategy is working’ and outlined the well-targeted acquisitions he believes will help. More

Offshore MR services agency Markelytics has announced plans for expansion into Europe. Former ESOMAR and Nestle research chief Fredrik Nauckhoff joins to lead the expansion as Head of Sales in France. More

The Nielsen Company is to acquire the remainder of word-of-mouth media tracking agency BuzzMetrics, of which it already owns 58%. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. More

After a 13 year career with ACNielsen, Robert Tomei has joined TNS as Global Head of Access Panels to establish, lead and deliver a growth strategy for the firm’s global access panel business, 6thdimension™. More

Global news and information company Reuters has enhanced its machine-readable news service to include analysis of news sentiment, driven by linguistics software created by text analytics firm, Corpora. More

Bangalore-based ACNielsen ORG-MARG, part of the Nielsen Group, is recruiting online consumer panels to target the Indian youth audience and upper income groups. More

Asian-based MR agency marketSHARE is moving to new offices in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay area, in preparation for a fourfold increase in its business in the city. More

Information Services Group (ISG), the acquisition firm chaired by former VNU man Michael Connors, is to buy outsourcing advisory firm TPI for $280m in cash. As part of the agreement, TPI’s management team will invest 30% of the proceeds in ISG stock. More

UK recruitment consultant pricejamieson is to be acquired by Boston-based Aquent. The combined firm will be a global force in the marketing and communications staffing arena and plans to grow its already substantial MR division. More

Asia-based research and analytics firm, Evalueserve (EVS), has launched an 80,000 strong US Physician Panel, to provide data across categories including oncology, neurology and cardiology. More

comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings have issued positive responses to the call by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) for them to submit to a third-party audit; but the Bureau has challenged them to back up their promises by setting and sticking to a scheduled timetable. More

US trade association the Interactive Advertising Bureau has sent an open letter to two of the major Internet audience measurement firms, comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings, asking them to submit to a third-party audit of their measurement processes by the MRC. More

A week of headlines for Google. On Friday the search giant announced first quarter revenue up 63% to $3.66bn, and rocketed to the top of Millward Brown’s BRANDZ™ index with a worth dwarfing current figures - $66.4bn. Google also made headline deals and gained search share against rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft. More

AGB Nielsen Media’s contract with Australia's TV ratings data supplier OzTAM has been extended for a further seven years from January 2008. More

Marketing giant WPP has reported first quarter revenue growth of 4.3% on a like-for-like basis, excluding acquisitions and currency. Due to an 11% decline in the US dollar against sterling, group revenue fell 0.7% to £1.366bn and that for the Information, Insight & Consultancy division fell c.5% to £204m. More

A fortnight after the announced flotation of rival comScore, online audience measurement firm Hitwise is to be acquired by information giant Experian, in a $240m cash deal which will close in May. More

Arbitron, Confirmit and IMS Health have all reported buoyant first quarters, with revenues up 7.9%, 14% and 35% respectively. More

Synovate has agreed a worldwide partnership with GMI giving the former access to over six million panellists across the globe. The move reflects changing attitudes to panel ‘ownership’ according to Synovate Global CEO Adrian Chedore. More

New York-based competitor intelligence (CI) firm, Sedulo Group, has acquired two CI and MR firms – Sharp & Associates in Shanghai and Perspicacite de Strategie in Paris. The move will more than triple the size of Sedulo's consulting offer. More

Last week DRNO covered a report looking at Google and the ‘threat’ it poses to the publishing and information industry. This week the concern is even closer to home, as the world’s biggest research firm ponders the intentions of the search giant. More

The Nielsen Company has announced results for the full year 2006, with pro forma unaudited revenues of $4,174m, up just 2.8% on the previous year, but up 5% at constant currencies, the firm said. Four acquisition-related items totalling c.$316m affected operating income which was down to $212m (2005: $373m). More

London-based Comperio Research, has opened an office in Hong Kong and appointed its Head of New Business Development James Dick to run the new operation. More

Millward Brown’s Bob Meyers has relinquished his CEO responsibilities to the firm's President of Global Development, Eileen Campbell. Meyers will remain as Chairman for the rest of 2007, and is likely to take another role within Kantar. More

Synovate Healthcare has promoted Stuart Bartlett to the post of Head of Business Development. He hands his former role, as Head of Synovate Healthcare Asia Pacific, to Sumit Sharma. More

Harris Interactive has revised its forecasts for the second half of the year following sales bookings around $8m lower than expected in the third quarter of its financial year. The firm also chose today to announce a new loyalty tool, the Commitment Model. More

Communications Minister Helen Coonan has asked the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to exempt pollsters from the forthcoming ban on making Sunday calls. The ban, due in force from 31st May, has been strongly opposed by the MR community. More

Synovate has announced senior hires and promotions in Asia and North America. Rob Myers joins as Canadian MD while in Singapore there are four appointments in the management team. More

Internet ratings firm comScore is going public, with an IPO aimed at raising up to $86.25 million. The company filed yesterday in the US with the Securities and Exchange Commission to list on the Nasdaq National Market. More

Greenfield Online, Inc. and Frost & Sullivan have announced a partnership to create a new business-to-business panel. Respondents will be offered access to the latter’s research reports as an incentive for sharing their own business expertise. More

Database and credit checking giant Experian has continued its programme of acquisitions with the purchase of an undisclosed minority share in Chinese agency, Sinotrust Marketing Research and Consulting. More

Kimberly-Clark Corporation has today unveiled a new global marketing structure, with three new senior roles filled from outside the firm, all reporting to CMO Tony Palmer. They include former Mars exec Roger Chacko in the position of Vice President, Global Marketing Knowledge and Intelligence. More

WPP-owned online panel provider Lightspeed Research has acquired global employee research firm, Foresight International, for an undisclosed sum. More

Technology researcher IDC has appointed Michael Guo as Managing Director for its China Operations, as it continues to expand into the booming market. He worked previously as Director of the board and Managing Partner of Gallup China. More

A survey released by home technology MR specialist, Park Associates, has revealed that around one-third of US households, or 31 million homes, have no access to the Internet and do not plan to subscribe in the next 12 months. Meanwhile, broadband usage is once again on the up, underlining the so-called ‘digital divide’. More

Melbourne, Australia-based research software developer QSR International will launch what it claims are ‘the world’s first qualitative research software programs in Japanese’, later this year. Japanese versions of the company’s flagship NVivo 7 and XSight software are being developed in partnership with Tokyo based Hulinks. More

Panel and software provider, GMI (Global Market Insite), has increased the size of its panels in China by 65% and in India more than fivefold. Meanwhile senior Board member Larry Schack has left the company and the west coast, reportedly to work for his previous employer, PSB. More

Global group Ipsos has published results for the full year 2006 showing organic growth of 6.5%, above the industry average but below its own high expectations. Revenue increased 19.4% to Euros 857.3m, with the majority of the rise due to acquisitions. More

TNSSport has launched an Asian version of its syndicated football-tracking product, currently available in Europe. Asia Soccercope will measure league popularity and sponsorship impact in both domestic and international football competitions in China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea. More

The Nielsen Company has announced the launch of a new web-based software tool for evaluation of past and present product placements; and the integration of consumer purchasing behaviour into its multi-country Global Track analysis tool. More

Research Process Outsourcing specialist Pulse Group has acquired a new facility close to the Petronas Towers in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The building is expected to house a state-of-the-art CATI centre and an additional 30 research professionals. More

NetRatings has released financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2006. Full year figures show a profit for the first time, with a net income of $2.8m in 2006 vs a loss of $8.4m in 2005. Revenue rose 20% from $68m in 2005 to $81.8m in 2006. More

Aegis Group Plc has announced strong results for 2006, including rapid organic and other growth for its MR arm Synovate which grew its share of Aegis’ total revenue from 38 to 40%. Synovate revenues were £401.2m and operating profit £30.8m, both up more than 20%. Group CFO Jeremy Hicks is leaving on this high note, to be replaced by Alicja Lesniak. More

Internet audience measurement provider, comScore Media Metrix, has designed a new set of metrics to measure the frequency with which a person views web content. The launch of ‘visits’ comes as reliance on page view stats declines among Internet properties and advertisers. More

In an exclusive interview with DRNO, Mike Connors admits the quarter billion dollars raised last month for his new acquisition company is ‘burning a hole in our pockets’ and that ISG will base its strategy on buying one information services firm worth $200-700m, within eighteen months tops. More

US-based Survey Sampling International (SSI), has launched an online Chinese panel, to be managed from its SSI Asia HQ in Beijing. More

UK-based Illuminas Global has appointed Matthew Carr as Director responsible for Asia Pacific and China, a new position created to help drive the firm’s long term growth in the Far East. More

Vodafone marketing leader David Wheldon has used a conference speech to question the relevance of current copy-testing techniques in the ‘multi-platform age’, singling out Millward Brown. Bob Meyers, the agency’s Group CEO, told DRNO he thinks the remarks have ‘to some extent’ been taken out of context. More

WNS, a provider of offshore business process outsourcing (BPO), has signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Bangalore-based offshore analytics firm Marketics Technologies, for a total enterprise value of approximately $65 million in cash. More

Internet audience measurement and analysis firm, Nielsen/NetRatings, will expand its online advertising measurement service AdRelevance in Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand in the third quarter of 2007. More

Technology analyst Forrester Research Inc. will rewrite its old accounts, as it continues to put its own house in order following its discovery of financial irregularities in December. This week, it also released results of a study of innovation round the world, listing Switzerland among five leaders in the field. More

Norwegian MR software business, Future Information Research Management (FIRM) has changed its name to Confirmit, matching its flagship web-based survey, feedback and reporting software product. More

TNS has released full year results for 2006, showing revenue almost flat at £1,004.2m (up 0.5% from £999m in 2005). However the firm, whose US custom business has been restructuring since reporting problems a year ago, said results in other divisions were good. More

Ipsos Interactive Services (IIS) has merged its North American and European organisations into one global online research body, to be managed by CEO Andrei Postoaca. More

Healthy preliminary figures indicate that GfK Group’s 2006 organic growth of 5.4% was again ahead of the estimated industry average of 4-5%. Declining sales in Japan meant overall Asia Pacific growth was nil, but the firm’s operations in Central and Eastern Europe continue to boom. More

TNS has launched TNSInsightTvLive™, an interactive online platform which allows respondents to see a survey moderator via a real-time video link, and enables him or her to demonstrate visual material while at the same time, analysing survey responses. More

Compiler of Internet trend forecasts, eMarketer.com, estimates that while US online advertising spend has risen by more than 30% each year for the past three, the 2007 increase will be just 19%. Not that that’s bad... but it’s certainly a change of pace. More

WPP, parent of MR agencies including Millward Brown and Research International, has announced preliminary results for 2006. Reported revenue is up almost 10% to £5.9bn and like-for-like revenue up 5.4%, while profit before tax is up more than 15% to £682m. More

Whatever its effect on the health of individuals, the cigarette industry itself does not appear to be in terminal decline, according to the latest TGI survey. More

Technology analyst IDC has reported results for 2006, with worldwide revenues up 12% to $297 million. Twenty new countries were added to its coverage in the year, bringing the total to 93. More

Ipsos has acquired most of Peruvian agency, Apoyo Opinión y Mercado S.A., which commands a 30% market share of the country’s MR and public opinion polling business. The global group has also announced preliminary results for 2006 with organic growth of 6.5% and revenues of 857.1m Euros. More

Philip Kleinman, The MR Journalist, has died in hospital following heart surgery. He was well known in the industry as former editor of ‘Campaign’ and a regular contributor to Admap, before founding the pioneering web site MRNews in the late 1990s. More

Research and predictive analytics software giant SPSS has reported a record 36% increase in its 2006 fourth quarter operating income, to $11.7m. The firm’s annual revenue was up 11% from $236.1m in 2005 to $261.5m in 2006. More

Pulse Group, the Asian-based provider of panels and research process outsourcing (RPO), has today announced the receipt of ‘significant’ venture capital funding from JAIC, whose Hideaki Fujiyama joins the Pulse Board. More

Synovate Healthcare has announced five senior promotions, following strong growth in 2006 and continuing integration. They include Bob Douglas as MD, Global Custom and Marianne Purdie as MD, Europe Custom, plus HR Director Virginia Mount’s elevation to the Global Exec Committee. More

US-based technology consultant Yankee Group has announced an exclusive alliance with nonprofit organization the China Mobile Communications Association (CMCA). The deal includes provision of research information to CMCA’s broad member base in China, giving Yankee an increased footprint in the booming economy. More

Founder and CEO Rob Monster is to leave the helm of panels and software provider GMI, to pursue other interests. Monster will continue to serve as a board member and will participate in the selection of a new CEO, while the Chairman’s role is taken by Enrique Godreau III, current GMI board member and MD of one of its major investors Voyager Capital. More

Nielsen has announced the consolidation of its digital television set top box measurement activities into a new service, Nielsen DigitalPlus. The system will take data from both cable system operators (MSOs) and satellite providers and integrate it with other Nielsen information. More

Panel company Greenfield Online has reported quarterly and annual financial results, showing a profit of c.$8.5m in 2006. President and CEO Albert Angrisani says the firm has re-established growth for its Internet survey solutions business and is in ‘the last stages of solidifying its overall turnaround.’ More

Synovate has promoted Ignacio Galceran from Executive VP to CEO of Latin America, responsible for operations in Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Miami. Elsewhere, Susanna Lam joins the agency as AD, Media Research based in Hong Kong. More

Following its December announcement, Nielsen has today completed the sale of most of its Business Media Europe (BME) division to venture capital firm, 3i - negotiations to sell the French arm are still ongoing. Terms of the sale were not released. More

Michael Connors, until recently Chairman and CEO of VNU's MMI Group, has resurfaced at the head of an acquisition company with almost $260m in funds. Information Services Group, Inc. (ISG) completed its IPO oversubscribed this week and boasts a strong line-up including several former Nielsen and VNU Execs. More

IT specialist Springboard Research has appointed Robert Triendl to expand its presence in Japan. In the role of Research Director, Triendl will report directly to CEO Dane Anderson. More

The Nielsen Company is to buy the remainder of online audience specialist NetRatings, for a total purchase price of $327m cash, or $21.00 a share. It already owns 60 per cent. More

Accounting and professional services firm Ernst & Young has launched a media performance auditing unit, part of its Marketing and Advertising Risk Services (MARS) practice. More

Ipsos has announced a number of new hires and leadership promotions strengthening its global and North American teams. Debra Mason joins as CFO of Ipsos North America, Efrain Ribeiro as COO of Ipsos Interactive Services, and Pushp Kamal as Senior VP of Research Analytics for Ipsos ASI’s Tracking and Equity business. More

Software and panels firm GMI has promoted two senior execs at its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney, in addition to making two senior appointments in Seattle and a raft of others worldwide. It has also upgraded its Research Analyzer tables tool, with enhanced weighting and data manipulation features. More

Panels company Research Now has announced the acquisition of Samplenet e-Research Solutions, which trades as OpenVenue. The price for Canada’s largest specialist online fieldwork company is a maximum of C$47.5m (£20.5m), subject to performance. More

The EMEA market for Business Intelligence (BI) platforms will grow at an annual compound growth rate of 9.7% to reach 1.9bn Euros in 2010, according to Gartner. However, the analyst warns pure play BI companies to expect a strong challenge from software’s ‘mega vendors’. More

B2b specialist Kadence is launching a dedicated healthcare division in Asia, to be headed by Katherine Byrne, recently appointed as an Associate Director. The company is currently opening a Kuala Lumpur office and plans one for China in 2007. More

Survey Sampling International (SSI) has announced a number of senior promotions to support its worldwide expansion, following the recent appointment of Jim Follett as CEO. Among them, MD Europe Kees de Jong is promoted to Director of Globalization with COO Europe Michel Guidi stepping up to fill the MD Europe role. More

GfK and entertainment sales data firm Media-Control, have announced the formation of a joint venture, GfK M², to track mobile content sales. The company will get its data direct from content and network providers, and hardware and component manufacturers. More

GfK Asia has appointed Steve Kaiser as Commercial Director, to lead its consumer electronics tracking business from the firm’s Singapore office. He joins from J.D. Power Asia Pacific. More

Pharma and healthcare research giant IMS Health has promoted Gilles Pajot to COO and Leslye Katz as Senior VP and CFO. The firm has also been in a federal court this week, defending the right of companies to see prescription data from individual physicians. More

Three recent surveys highlight new technology’s effect on consumer habits and the challenge facing advertisers. Newspapers’ web sites are boosting their offline circulation; broadband video is bringing new and more lucrative advertising opportunities; and the days of the standalone DVR may be numbered. More

Online survey software provider, FIRM (Future Information Research Management), has reported 2006 revenue up 26% to $21.8 million, and a 13% EBIT margin. More

Gap CEO and champion of consumer insights Paul Pressler is leaving the role by mutual agreement with the clothing retailer’s board, after sliding sales and falling profits in the last year culminated in a miserable holiday season and an 8% drop in sales during December. More

The majority of online gamblers aren’t playing to win money long-term; it’s more about entertainment value, according to the findings of the ‘eCOGRA Global Online Gambler Survey’. The study plots the behaviour and attitudes of 11,000 players across 96 countries. More

Kantar has announced the merging of its Japanese businesses into a single unit. The Japanese offices of Research International, Millward Brown, ICM/Added Value and Lightspeed Research will henceforth function as Japan Kantar Research (JKR). Kantar says it has no plans to replicate this approach elsewhere in the world. More

VNU today continued its radical overhaul following its return to the private sector, by changing its name to ‘The Nielsen Company’. The firm says the move ‘emphasizes its best-known brand name and underscores its commitment to create an integrated, streamlined global organization’. More

ACNielsen has announced the establishment of an Industry Practice Group (IPG) for Leisure and Travel research in China, led by Dr. Grace Pan. The firm says it will ‘aggressively expand’ its services for the country’s travel and leisure sectors, with tracking and in-depth analysis. More

A recent survey conducted by business-to-business research consultancy, Kadence, has shown that in half of all Asian SMEs the decision-maker in the key financial role is a woman. More

Synovate Healthcare has appointed Kelly Price as Head of its Asia Pacific Tandem Oncology Monitor (APTOM) in China, Korea and Australia. The role will include the expansion of the monitor into new markets in Asia. More

Consumer research and consulting firm, OTX (Online Testing eXchange), has hired Dave Kaye from Flamingo International, to head its newly launched qualitative arm in Europe and Asia. More

Online fieldwork provider Research Now has announced its Final Results for the year to 31 October 2006, with turnover nearly trebled to £9.6m (2005: £3.6m) and profit before tax more than trebled to £1.6m (2005: £0.5m). More

MRS Chairman Simon Lidington talks to DRNO about the challenges facing the organisation and the industry, and about the recent decision to join the international association of MR associations, EFAMRO. Today, the prospects for international co-operation; tomorrow a look at the MRS’ domestic plans. More

Jim Follett, former COO of NOP World, is to replace Bev Weiman as Chief Executive Officer of panels firm Survey Sampling International (SSI). Weiman, who co-founded SSI along with Tom Danbury in 1977, cited personal reasons for her departure. More

Online survey professionals need to choose the right day and time to send invitations to potential respondents, according to a study by Lightspeed Research. Invites sent on a Monday afternoon got the best response rates (up to 39%) while for Friday afternoon mailings the rate fell to 28%. More

As the MRS reveals that ‘happiness expert’ Richard Reeves is to deliver the opening keynote slot at its annual conference in March, US provider Luth Research has published results of a survey into happiness around the world, highlighting the differences between countries and regions. More

GfK HealthCare Asia has successfully completed two pilot surveys for its Sales Force Effectiveness (SFE) program which it says ‘drastically alter the playing field for pharmaceutical companies in Asia’. More

Texas-based researcher DisplaySearch has strengthened its team with seven senior hires. Three new staff join in the US, two in Korea and one each in China and Japan. More

Market research supplier, Mintel, and retail and consumer information provider, Information Resources Inc (IRI), have paired up to launch a new tool which they claim could reduce the cost of new product development by up to 80%. More

US-based software and panels firm GMI has announced the opening of a new technology center near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo; plus three new appointments from December. More

Most of the world has made New Year resolutions for 2007, according to ACNielsen. An online survey of more than 22,000 consumers in 46 countries found 56% of respondents resolved to do or change something, with exercising more and improving work–life balance topping the list. More

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