Taylor Nelson Sofres Acquires US Ad Tracking Business

The world’s largest market research group, Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), has announced an agreement to acquire US-based Competitive Media Reporting (CMR) for US$88 million (£56 million). CMR provides advertising tracking services in the US and will strengthen TNS’ presence in the media monitoring market.

CMR’s current owner, publishing group VNU, was required by the Federal Trade Commission to put the business up for sale following its acquisition of Nielsen Media Research in August last year (see VNU Acquires Nielsen Media Research For $6.2bn). Based in New York, CMR tracks over US$65 billion worth of advertising expenditure across all media. The company has also developed the CMR Interactive division, to specifically monitor advertising on major websites.

Tony Cowling, TNS’ executive chairman, says: “CMR has an impressive market share, tracking around 25% of the world’s advertising expenditure and is at the forefront of its industry. As advances in technology increase the range of media to which are exposed and the demand for internet information forges ahead, the importance of competitive advertising intelligence rises even faster. We have identified media monitoring as a key growth sector for Taylor Nelson Sofres and this is a major step forward for us.”

It is understood that rival bidders for CMR included global advertising group WPP and market research company AC Neilsen.

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