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Gartner has announced results for the first quarter of 2024, with revenue up 4.6% (FX neutral) to $1.473bn, and adjusted EBITDA of $382m, up 1.7% on the same basis. More
In the US, ad tech platform Infillion has relaunched MediaMath, the DSP and data management firm whose assets it acquired out of bankruptcy last summer. More
Insight-driven marcoms agency The Bliss Group has expanded its operations to the UK, opening a London office to serve its professional and financial services, healthcare, tech and 'impact' clients. More
Netherlands-based full service agency DVJ Insights has appointed Adrian Sanger as its new Head of Shopper Domain, reflecting its expanding work in shopper behaviour, innovation and brand strategy. More
Tech consulting and research firm Forrester has reported first quarter revenues down around 12% to $100.1m, and adjusted net income of $2.8m, down from $5.1m a year earlier. More
The Tesco Media & Insight Platform, which combines the British supermarket's loyalty card data and in-store insights with the expertise of its subsidiary dunnhumby, has appointed former Amazon exec Steve Edwards as Head of Agency, and former Pinterest man Russell Franklin as Head of Client Bus Dev. More
Kantar has promoted Simon Atherley to head up its yearling marketing effectiveness practice, alongside Kantar Insights UK MD Dom Boyd. More
Charlotte, NC-based full service marketing agency AC&M Group has announced the acquisition of Argentinian partner firm Axlot, which offers web development, digital advertising, analytics and digital innovation. More
In London, 'experience innovation' firm Valtech has announced the completion of its acquisition of digital transformation consultancy Kin + Carta, in a deal valued at £239m. More
Ad measurement firm VideoAmp has appointed three senior members for its Commercial Growth team: Amy Madden as SVP Revenue and Growth; Jeff Schmidt as SVP of Advertisers; and Conor Burgess as VP of Agency Partnerships. More
Kantar has announced a change in its measurement of the effectiveness of ads on social network Meta within its LIFT and LIFT+ products, which will now be available through its Direct Integrations platform. More
Leeds, UK-based agency Blue Yonder Research has announced the appointment of five new trainees since the beginning of the year: Karolina Lydka, Emily Herbert, Lucy Hart, Logan Doig and Tommy Tsang. More
Fast-growing UK-based ad impact measurement specialist DAIVID has hired Mitch Eggers as Chief Scientist, the same title he held previously at Kantar. More
Data and analytics strategy consultancy Cynozure has appointed Jane Usoskina as Senior Solutions Architect. More
In the US, mobile survey and in-the-moment data collection firm MFour Mobile Research has appointed Edward Farias as Chief Financial Officer. He previously held the same position at firms including Lieberman Research and Kantar North America. More
London-based consumer research company GWI has launched its Respondent Level Data (RLD) on the Snowflake Marketplace, giving users access to anonymised, unaggregated consumer data for advanced analytics. More
Austin, TX-based research tech firm MediaScience has launched MediaPET (Platform Emulation Technology), which enables researchers, media planners and marketers to create simulations that mimic the key digital and social media platforms. More
In the US, RSB Insight and Analytics has created a permanent in-house role as Senior Director of Insights & Analytics for Johanna Steen, who has been working for the firm as a consultant for nearly two years. The former Hall & Partners researcher will help to drive the development of innovative methods. More
In San Jose, California, customer data platform (CDP) solutions firm FirstHive has closed a new funding round of unspecified size, to speed its expansion in the US and extend platform capabilities, including AI. More
The U.S. Census Bureau has appointed Arturo Vargas as Chair and Nancy Bates as Vice Chair of its newly formed 2030 Census Advisory Committee (2030 CAC), which will provide it with recommendations on planning and implementation of the next decennial survey. More
In New York, media measurement and optimization platform Integral Ad Science (IAS) has earned MRC accreditation for its sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) filtration for the Connected TV (CTV) environment. More
Canada-based global trend-tracking and prediction technology firm RIWI has acquired the majority of the assets of survey and non-conscious data collection platform CoolTool. At the same time, the company reported 2023 revenue up 50% to $US 4.18m, relecting a previous acquisition. More
Kantar Media has promoted Rachel Macey to serve as Managing Director, TGI & Insight, UK and Ireland, replacing Sarah Sanderson who is stepping down. The firm has also promoted Trevor Vagg to Director, Insight, leading Kantar Media's Insight and Sport teams. More
British firm STRAT7 Jigsaw has promoted Sarah McKee to the role of Managing Director, taking over the day-to-day running of the business from founders Ann Morgan and Sue Van Meeteren, who will move to focus on key accounts and improving collaboration between Jigsaw and other STRAT7 Group companies. More
In Toronto, Canada, consumer insights and cross-platform audience measurement provider Vividata has announced a strategic partnership with data solutions and data science company Consumer Orbit. A new company and two new products are the immediate results of this collaboration. More
WPP has issued a first quarter trading update, with like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs down 1.6% to £2.69bn. CEO Mark Read said the results were in line with expectations, reflecting tough comparatives, and that the firm 'remains on track to return to growth in the balance of the year'. More
London-based retail testing tech firm Virtual Store Trials (VST) has appointed Jenny Hall as Research Director. More
Argentina-based mobile panel and synthetic data specialist Livepanel has announced the launch of a platform called N-INFINITE, which it says allows clients to self-generate synthetic survey data in a matter of minutes. More
Adwanted UK has launched AudioLab, a solution offering real-time tracking and measurement of impressions and listen-through rate on digital audio platforms, including streaming and podcast. More
Strategic insight consultancy Firefish has hired Ajibola Bolarinwa as a Director in its US business, based in Los Angeles. More
Basis Research Group has launched a new team within its 'Ideas' division, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, focused on technical development and promising to deliver what it describes as 'the world's first Generative Business Intelligence solution'. More
London-based B2B SaaS solutions provider Four/Four has secured £310k in Seed funding, for use in expanding its operations and continuing software development. More
Digital media measurement specialist DoubleVerify has been awarded MRC accreditation for Video Viewable Impressions and related viewability metrics in the Connected TV (CTV) environment. More
In the US, Dylan Mabin is leaving out of home (OOH) audience measurement body Geopath, after sixteen years with the organisation and three as its President. He will stay until a replacement has been recruited and onboarded. More
UK-based brand and communications research agency The Nursery has appointed former 2CV exec Rob Hartley as Head of Social Research. More
London-based marketing intel and programmatic media specialist MiQ has launched its services in the Republic of Ireland, appointing Niall Murtagh to lead its expansion there in the role of Sales Director. More
Digital music pioneer Spotify has relinquished its membership of the IAB, according to reports. The company with the largest global audio ad-supported revenue is therefore no longer certified for podcast audience measurement, but says it is 'taking a pause' and 'remains committed to the IAB mission'. More
Kantar, has appointed James Lavell in the new role of Chief Commercial Officer for its Profiles Division - the group's Centre of Expertise for panel management as well as home to its portfolio of custom research services. More
In Washington, DC, WPP-owned research and analytics consultancy PSB Insights has appointed Christopher Frank as its new Chief Client Officer. More
In New York, audio research and analytics platform Veritonic has announced an integration with mobile marketing analytics and attribution platform AppsFlyer, giving the former's audio attribution solution seamless access to real-time data on in-app conversion actions across mobile devices. More
Ipsos, working with Google and UK online audience measurement standards body UKOM, has integrated YouTube viewing data into its iris platform. More
London-based Streetbees, whose platform captures and analyses in-the-moment feedback via mobile from 3.5 million 'bees' around the world, has integrated photo and video capture capabilities into its AI-powered market research tool, SBX. More
Legislation in the US state of Nebraska which would have taxed 'advertising', explicitly including ad measurement and effectiveness research, has been pulled from the slate before a vote, according to the Insights Association, which was part of a coalition opposing it. More
Berlin-based experience research software platform Brainstork is entering the UK market, and has hired Ben Leet as UK Partnership Lead on a freelance or 'fractional' basis. More
Purchase transaction specialist Behaviorally has announced two appointments in its expanding Chicago office: Morgan McClure joins as VP Business Development and Quinn Russell as Business Development Manager. More
In Helsinki, employee experience data firm HappySignals has announced a EUR 12m funding round to help its global expansion, boosting its sales, marketing and product development efforts. More
US-based customer experience software firm Sprinklr has appointed former Walt Disney exec Venke Sharma to a lead role driving its Sprinklr Insights product, which provides real-time consumer, competitor and market insights. He is based in Mumbai. More
Purchase transaction insights firm Behaviorally has partnered with China-based eCommerce giant Alibaba to offer the former's pack testing products on the latter's TMIC (Tmall Innovation Center) platform, allowing users to assess the impact of packaging design and eCommerce visuals in the country. More
Marcoms network Stagwell, which owns the Harris Poll and Harris X brands as well as Maru Group, has opened its new EMEA headquarters in London's Blue Fin Building on the South Bank. More
California-based Dataplor, which collates data on business locations worldwide, has raised $10.6m in a Series A funding round, with which to accelerate its ongoing expansion and make a number of strategic hires. More
In the US, ad intelligence software firm AdImpact has partnered with Yahoo, enabling the latter's DSP to offer improved targeting and political audience segmentation for activation across local and national campaigns as elections approach. More
Washington, DC-based AI Squared, whose software helps clients integrate AI-based insights and data into their business applications, has announced Series A funding totalling $13.8m. The investment will help it expand its team and further develop its product. More
Ipsos has reported continued solid growth in the first quarter of the year, with revenue up 4.5% in organic terms, to EUR 557.5m. The EMEA and Asia Pacific regions led the way with revenue up more than 9% in each case (organic) while the Americas saw a 3.2% decline. More
NIQ's digital product content division Brandbank has launched a new product data optimisation solution, Content Health+, providing insights into category comparison and content benchmarking. More
Texas-based tech advisory, intelligence and research firm The Futurum Group is to acquire Techstrong Group, a publisher of tech community sites and provider of services such as buyer intent analytics, demand generation, IT buyer journey development and overall B2B buyer insights. More
UK insight agency Simpson Carpenter has appointed Alexander Holmes as Senior Research Director with expertise in Automotive, Digital Entertainment and Tech, while Martyn Turze joins as Research Director heading up a new specialist sector, Sports. More
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of legendary ad agency Ogilvy UK, has joined creative effectiveness platform DAIVID in the capacity of Strategic Advisor. More
DIY online survey pioneer SurveyMonkey has promoted Priya Gill to Global Head of Marketing, leading its marketing strategy and execution across all markets. More
Canadian-owned market research and analytics firm Leger has appointed four new members for its US team, including sales and research functions. Ben Piper and Matthew Luff join as VPs Business Development, Wayne Link as VP Client Development and Heather Hart as Associate VP, Research. More
UK marketing budgets grew strongly in Q1, although slightly less rapidly than in the previous, record-breaking quarter, according to the IPA's Bellwether report. Slightly more respondents reported rising market research budgets than falling, reversing the trend of the previous quarter. More
Comscore has partnered with consumer engagement specialist Thece to track viewers' attention to livestreaming ads, and with marketing automation platform iZooto to deliver precise traffic and revenue insights to its publisher clients. More
Digital media measurement and analytics firm DoubleVerify (DV) has apologised to X, formerly known as Twitter, for an error which over a recent four-month period gave the microblogging site brand safety ratings as low as 70%, when actual scores were as high as 99.99%, according to reports. More
Austin, Texas-based firm The Next Practices Group (NPG) is launching a proprietary service for B2B tech and health tech brands, using AI and data science to sift actionable intelligence on ideas and trends from technology leader communities. More
Former 2CV, GfK and Walnut Unlimited researcher Antonio Margaritelli has joined London agency Disrupt Insight as a Research Director. More
Consumer insight and behavioural data technology company RealityMine has appointed former Google and YouTube advertising leader Phil Miles as a Non-Executive Director, effective immediately. More
B2B intelligence provider Rhetorik has released a solution it says will allow its US customers to benchmark their own organization's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) data against industry standards. More
Text analysis platform Canvs AI has announced a new release of its AI Story Assist software, incorporating a new executive summary feature with interactive citations and quantification of the themes, topics and emotions identified in open-ended text data. More
First party data specialist TestSet has launched in the European market, backed by recently-launched research and data sector investment firm ACKWEST Group. Leading the region from London as MD is Colin Turner-Kerr, joined by Dina Patel as Director of Operations. More
In California, veteran food and beverage product development firm Mattson has announced the acquisition of Chicago-based Hyde Park Group Food Innovation (HPG) - giving it its first location outside the Bay Area of San Francisco. More
In Kentucky, USA, market intelligence provider TraQline has appointed Brian Lamar as Strategic Director of Survey Products, Hal Clark as VP of Strategic Accounts and Andrew DeCilles as VP of Alternative Data Solutions. The firm provides data on the durable goods industry. More
In Leeds, UK, insight agency STRAT7 Researchbods has launched an AI survey chatbot which it says will improve data quality and participant engagement for its clients, bringing deeper insights from open-ended questions. More
In Stockholm, enterprise insights and collaboration platform Stravito has launch Stravito Assistant, an AI-based 'insights companion' aiming to helps users find answers faster and ask better questions. More
In New York, marketing decision-making platform Extreme Reach has appointed former DISH Media exec Kevin Arrix as its Chief Growth Officer. More
Research tech company SightX has promoted Cameron Rau to a newly created position, Head of Customer Success and Research, responsible for helping customers make the most of the company's new products and approaches. More
Panel company Intra Research has appointed Helle Raun Oddershede as its new CEO, taking over from Marina Moshenska who moves into the role of Chief Operating Officer. More
Insights technology and panel provider Toluna has appointed Lucia Moir as Chief Operations Officer and promoted Priyanka Sarkar to Chief Research Officer. More
Marcoms group Stagwell has agreed to acquire São-Paulo, Brazil-based PROS Agency, a brand and marketing consultancy specializing in digital PR, creative planning and production, influencer marketing and brand development. More
AI-based consumer research platform Bounce Insights has brought in Aaron Peck as Regional Commercial Director, North America, as it expands into the US. The company has also added Ian Kiernan to its board as Non-Executive Director. More
British-based insight agency Opinium has promoted Wez Eathorne to the new role of Global Head of Brand, Comms & Product Research. More
In the US, ARF subsidiary CIMM has partnered with local broadcast television industry trade association TVB, in a new initiative designed to showcase innovations in measurement and currency development across the local TV and video marketplace. More
New York- and Austin, Texas-based b2b restech company Emporia Research has secured $4.7m in a seed round of funding, to expand its platform's capabilities. This will include further investment in AI, engineering, sales and data partnerships. More
British online audience measurement body UKOM has appointed 25-year Nielsen exec Sarah Miller as its Technical Consultant. More
Customer insights firm DMR has announced the appointment of nine new staff, having completed a successful first institutional funding round at the end of 2023. More
San Francisco-based Writ has raised $3.8m in Seed funding, with which to expand its operations and continue development of its technology, which provides a space for clients' teams to share and discuss data to develop insights and improve business decisions. More
HfS Research has announced a strategic alliance with HEX Advisory Group, aiming to enhance their industry analysis offer, in particular around contract price benchmarking. More
In California, marketing firm Power Digital has enhanced its nova Intelligence platform with the launch of Creative Affinity, an ad creative analysis module designed with support from Meta engineers. More
Manchester-based startup North AI has secured £280,000 grant funding from the UK's Innovation Agency, and a further £300,000 in a round led by SFC Capital. The firm provides an AI-powered predictive insights platform for the media and entertainment industry. More
In the US, evidence-based healthcare consulting firm KJT Group has appointed Ellen Gordon as SVP of Client Strategy & Growth. More
Snap Inc, parent of photo sharing app Snapchat, has announced a partnership and integration with app marketplace Snowflake, promising its advertisers encrypted, privacy-safe and effective ad solutions and signal measurement. Snap also has a new measurement partnership with AppsFlyer. More
In New York, UX research ops specialist Rally has raised $8.8m in funding, to help promote it to a wider audience and further develop its technology. More
Marketing tech group Access Intelligence Plc has appointed Tom Ritchie as President of PR & Comms EMEA. More
Frankfurt am Main, Germany-based Scavenger AI, whose software allows client companies to perform complex data analyses in 'a few seconds', has raised EUR 1.1m in pre-seed funding. The money will help expand its team, and develop and launch its products. More
London-based marketing group Unlimited, parent of insight agency Walnut, is to join Accenture Song, the business services behemoth's 'tech-powered creative group'. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. More
London-based researcher High Tech Dev has rebranded as HTAIR, reflecting a significant change in its mission and vision (focused around AI); and has appointed Nigel Woodliffe as Chief Customer Success Officer. More
Nordic and DACH-focused small and medium-sized business specialist Nalka Invest is to acquire European data collection firm Norstat from its current parent, Triton, for an undisclosed sum. More
London-based Truth Consulting has announced five promotions: Catherine Anstead, Victor Reynoso and Kate Stratton become Directors, while Taiye Akin-Akinyosoye and Tom Sweeney are now Senior Consultants. More
Atlanta, GA-based predictive analytics firm AnalyticsIQ has launched ChannelIQ, promising 'reliable and actionable insight' into consumer marketing channel preferences, for use in targeting and ad optimisation. More
Purchase transaction analytics specialist Behaviorally has announced a number of recent promotions, including Ethel Klein and Mavis Tong to VP Customer Success, Stephen Omogbehin to Vice President, IT, Coraline Petipas to Director, Customer Success and Natasha Gonzalez to Director, Behavioral Qualitative. More
In the UK, MR industry veterans and Firefish execs Jem Fawcus and Richard Owen have launched a new company, QualifyAI, with a mission 'to automate qualitative research without stripping it of its humanity'. The partners say this is possible for the first time thanks to AI. More
Recently-merged B2B purchase intent specialists MRP and CONTENTgine have rebranded as pharosIQ, and launched a number of proprietary first party permission-based, down-funnel targeting capabilities. Chris Rack leads the new company as CEO. More
Washington, DC-based research consultancy PSB Insights has promoted Colleen McCauley to SVP of Marketing, serving on the firm's Executive Team and working directly with CEO Dave Gordon. More
Global consumer health company Haleon, the firm behind brands such as Sensodyne and Centrum, has appointed Geoff Painter as Global Head of Consumer Business Insights and Analytics. More
Santa Monica, CA-based research tech firm Fuel Cycle has enhanced its Research Engine platform with the addition of Universal Connections, a feature allowing users to run projects from within insight communities using their preferred insights tools, whether or not they are fully integrated with the platform. More
Custom market research firm AMC Global has appointed Jennifer Binelli as Senior Research Director, Strategy & Insights, and made a number of promotions including Ashley D'Annunzio to VP of Qualitative Insights and Reene Kalola to Senior Research Director, Strategy & Insights. More
US-based international data collection and research tech company Sago has launched a formal specialist Health offering, building on longstanding expertise in the sector and fronted by EVP of Healthcare Shannon Childs. More
Marketing intel and programmatic media specialist MiQ has announced the launch of its TV Intelligence platform in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, promising users a complete view of audience, campaign and competitor intelligence across linear TV, CTV and YouTube in one place. More
Social media management software firm Hootsuite is to acquire listening specialist Talkwalker, for an undisclosed sum. More
UK-based strategic research and planning consultancy STRAT7 Incite has continued a recent series of senior hires, bringing in Alex Banks as Senior Principal. Last month John Tearle and Emma Davies rejoined the company in senior roles. More
Danish neuroscience solutions firm Neurons Inc has launched an AI Copilot, promising its clients the ability to make faster creative decisions, optimise visuals and receive 'crystal-clear recommendations on what to do next'. More
Manchester, UK-based product intelligence platform Vypr has appointed Glenn Porter as Chief Commercial Officer. More
Australia-based Out-of-Home tracking and measurement specialist Veridooh has appointed Nick Parker, formerly Global COO of WPP agency Kinetic, as its Global President, charged with driving the firm's expansion info new markets. More
Ohio, USA-based MarketVision Research has promoted Colleen Hennegan to Senior Vice President, recognising her leadership of the firm's successful Online Communities practice. More
Data collection and research services firm Bilendi & respondi has extended the functionality of its BARI AI-powered research assistant to include quantitative projects. More
Customer lifecycle analytics platform Quantum Metric has released a new version of its platform, focused on simplifying how organizations listen to and act on the needs of their customers. It includes Felix AI, a new session summarization feature powered by Google Cloud's Gemini Pro. More
Canadian insights association CRIC has launched annual awards for the country's analytics and research professionals. More
Ipsos has announced senior role extensions for five employees in its qualitative division Ipsos UU, in India, as it gears up for product launches and 'ambitious growth targets'. The five are Sapna Parmar, Neha Dutta, Shelly Jain, Geetika Singh and Ashwini Sirsikar. More
UK video ad currency body Barb has appointed former TNS and RSMB exec Sara Cheeseman as Finance Director. She replaces long-time FD Nigel McLachlan, who is retiring. More
In New Jersey, USA, healthcare reputation management and patient feedback solutions firm rater8 has closed a Series A round of funding, for use in expanding its market reach to medical practices and hospitals of all types and sizes, and growing its team. More
Web and app digital experience analytics firm Glassbox has appointed former Instructure exec Michelle Suzuki as Chief Marketing Officer. More
Florida-based immersive advertising technology firm Trivver has unveiled technology which it says is the first to allow brands and organizations to measure viewability metrics in Extended Reality (XR) environments. More
Consumer intelligence firm NIQ has announced the launch of 'Full View - Measurement', a suite of features available within its Discover platform, promising an omnichannel view of data with item-level granularity for retailers, manufacturers and the financial services community. More
UK-based consumer and B2B researcher 2CV has announced eleven promotions, including Chris Oatey and Jon Smetherham to Regional Directors, responsible for leading the Asia team based in Singapore; and in the UK Kar Hoo Lee to Associate Director of Data Services and Abigail Plank to Associate Director. More
Marketing intelligence software company Proxima has closed a $12m Series A round of funding. Money will be used to further develop its technology platform, including AI-powered feature development, as well as recruitment for its tech and commercial teams. More
Mumbai, India-based digital tech and customer experience solutions provider Datamatics has announced the acquisition of Salesforce services firm Dextara Digital. More
In the US, the 'Joint Industry Committee' (JIC) formed in January 2023 to provide more rapid accreditation of ad currency providers than the MRC has awarded full certification to Comscore and VideoAmp, but delayed a final decision on iSpot until June. More
Technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group has announced the launch of a new AI software research practice, via its software insights division Ventana Research. The launch complements that of the Group's Enterprise AI Advisory business, launched in January. More
Consumer information and credit reporting company TransUnion has partnered with researcher MRI-Simmons, promising clients 'improved actionability across the addressable marketing ecosystem'. More
Texas-based data collection and research solutions provider Veridata Insights has promoted Jennifer Miller to Vice President of Global Qualitative Solutions, and Paul Mastrianna to Senior Director of Sales, while Natalie Blahut joins in a full-time capacity as Qualitative Project Manager. More
In the US, Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS) has appointed retail operations veteran Doug Sweet as Administrative Office Coordinator. More
In the US, cultural intelligence specialist Collage Group has added new features to its fleun.ci SaaS application: a Head-to-Head Dashboard, providing competitive insights; an Industry Dashboard giving a category-level view of brand-specific consumer sentiment; and an enhanced Audience Insights offer. More
German CX management software company moveXM has announced the acquisition of two Dutch SaaS sister companies specializing in customer and employee feedback and customer review software - Feeddex BV and 5-Star Specialist BV. More
Experience Management (XM) company Qualtrics has appointed Juan Rodriguez as Chief Information Officer and Assaf Keren joins Qualtrics as Chief Security Officer. More
Converged TV advertising solutions firm Cadent has agreed the acquisition of measurable programmatic advertising company AdTheorent, for around $324m in cash, or $3.21 per share. More
Unified customer experience management platform Sprinklr has appointed Amitabh Misra as Chief Technology Officer, starting this week. Misra will lead all R&D teams worldwide including product and engineering, and also joins the Executive Leadership Team. More
In Birmingham, UK, full service social research agency M.E.L Research has appointed Ayesha Lynn-Birkett as a Senior Research Executive, and promoted Angela Parton to Telephone Unit Manager. More
Minneapolis-based consultancy Foresight Strategy has appointed five members to its advisory board, including Cambiar founder Simon Chadwick, along with David Exelby, Lili Hall, Jeffrey Hunter and Reed Watson. More
Kantar has promoted Amanjit Singh to Regional Marketing Director - APAC, after more than thirteen years at the company. More
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