New GfK MRI Team to Explore Emerging TV Trends

Media research specialist GfK MRI has set up a new Innovation team, to explore emerging trends in TV viewing. Kevin King joins the team as SVP Mobile Measurement and Trends; while Karen Ramspacher becomes SVP Consumer Insights.

King has worked in digital research for the past ten years, directing digital ad sales at Viacom, providing audience measurement for A+E Networks' online properties, and leading digital analytics for Univision Communications. More recently, he was a Research and Product Strategy Consultant for smart TV start-up Samba TV. Ramspacher has twenty years' experience as an account planner and researcher, having held senior roles at NBC Universal, Oxygen Media, Fuse, and Participant Media; and worked with TruthCo's semioticians to develop cultural insights on TV and video.

The new team has already launched a report called 'TV Share of Clock', which analyzes a sample drawn from the firm's Survey of the American Consumer, to understand the complete viewing universe and explore the importance of different platforms and technologies when viewing TV content. The report forms part of a series, 'Future of TV', which in the coming months will explore emerging TV viewing habits, and trends in cord behavior and TV content. It will also examine ways of tapping into TV audiences for optimal ad monetization, and look at mobile audience measurement and predictive trend analysis for digital platforms.

King and Ramspacher report to Christie Kawada, EVP, Product Management and Innovation, who comments: 'As disruption of traditional ad and content delivery models continues, this new team will be at the forefront of the changes. With the combination of MRI data, our new products, and the expanded expertise of our team, we are positioned to provide insight into where TV is going, what consumers are doing in digital, and, most importantly, how to reach today's consumers'.

Web site: www.gfkmri.com .