Ballon to Lead Synovate Media and Entertainment Arm

In the US, Synovate has appointed former Nielsen exec Howard Ballon as Managing Director of its new Media and Entertainment practice, based in the Los Angeles office.

Ballon, whose initial tasks include building up the practice team, worked most recently as EVP of the Media & Entertainment practice at Ipsos OTX; and before this was President of Nielsen Film & Home Entertainment, responsible for Nielsen NRG (film research and tracking), Nielsen TV, and Nielsen EDI (box office tracking).

During his more than 15 years with NRG, Ballon helped roll out the firm's movie tracking services in five countries, launched a widely-used movie industry benchmark study, introduced a web-based platform of the NRG movie database, and established NRG's DVD custom and syndicated research practice. He led EDI's expansion of its global box office coverage to Japan and Korea, and helped develop Nielsen TV from a pilot-testing boutique to a more diversified market research company.

'I am very pleased to have someone of Howard's caliber, especially with such vast media and entertainment experience, joining the North America team,' states Robert Skolnick, President of Synovate in North America. 'We look forward to bringing our innovative approaches to understand better the rapidly evolving consumer and their entertainment and media choices.'

Web site: www.synovate.com .