Ipsos acquires Intrasonics

Ipsos is pleased to announce the acquisition of Intrasonics, a leading provider of audio recognition technology based in the UK.

This is part of Ipsos’ continued strategy to increase its expertise in the field of digital audience measurement and offer new capabilities in the area of Audio, Digital and TV content recognition.

Intrasonics has been a key partner in helping to develop Ipsos’ proprietary passive measurement solution, MediaCell which is at the heart of some of Ipsos’ recent success in audience measurement. These include the award of the Dutch Nationaal Media Onderzoek (NMO) contract to deliver a total media audience measurement solution in the Netherlands, together with Kantar (i) and, also, the Broadcast Research Council (BRC) of South Africa’s decision to nominate Ipsos to create a new, future-ready Radio Audience Management Survey (RAMS) (ii).

Founded in 2008, Intrasonics’ pioneered in the field of echomodulation audio watermarking. The Cambridge-based company are a world reference in the field of digital encoding and fingerprinting technology used in audience measurement enabling mobile phones to synchronise to radio or TV broadcasts through a simple to install app - a vital component of Ipsos' passive TV and radio measurement solution, MediaCell.

Implications for Ipsos India?

Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India said, “It boosts our audience measurement offering providing clients with most updated technology in measuring viewership or listenership, especially in the times of multiple screens."

Ginus Tiemessen, founder of Intrasonics commented, "I am proud that our close cooperation has become permanent. The combination of Ipsos’ global audience measurement network with Intrasonics' high-tech competence centre in Cambridge will offer great opportunities and even better service for all our clients. The team is eager to help create the new product market combinations that this collaboration will bring."

Jerome Schalkwijk, Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer, said: "We're very excited to combine our expertise and passion for audio technology with Ipsos' understanding of market research and their global reach. Together, we're perfectly positioned to develop new markets and to revolutionise the audience research market."

Didier Truchot, Ipsos’ CEO & Chairman commented: “This acquisition allows Ipsos to couple its audience measurement capabilities with the latest technology and techniques.  We are proud to welcome Intrasonics to the Ipsos family and take a new step to help clients understand how audiences are consuming new media.”

Liz Landy, Audience Measurement Global Service Line Leader added: “With the rise of digitally streamed media, audio watermarking is crucial to help understand how and where audiences are consuming different types of content. Intrasonics has been a key partner in helping us authenticate audience behaviors for Ipsos iris in the UK. This acquisition is another step to ensure that we provide our clients with future ready products.”