Kantar Media to acquire Civolution's NexTracker and SyncNow

Kantar holds 50 per cent stake in TAM. Earlier this year, BARC appointed Civolution as its watermarking technology partner.

Kantar Media, WPP's wholly-owned media research and analytics business, has agreed to acquire Civolution's NexTracker (audience measurement) and SyncNow (second screen audio watermarking) businesses.

The development is interesting because earlier this year Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India appointed Civolution - which is essentially a provider of technology and solutions for identifying, managing and monetising content - for its watermarking technology.

It has been nearly eight months since BARC announced its decision to leverage Civolution's audio-watermarking technology for its soon-to-be-launched audience measurement system.

And Kantar, as is known, holds 50 per cent stake in TAM, the current TV audience measurement system; Nielsen holds the other 50 per cent.

This means, after the launch of BARC, Kantar will continue to have one foot in India's TV audience measurement process.

When contacted, Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India, summed up his reaction to the development with these words: "We obviously partner with marquee names in the business through different business structures. Civolution is one of the many important partners we have. I am happy with this move."

According to the press statement announcing this development, the acquisition will build on Kantar Media's significant global presence and activities in digital audience measurement across all media in over 60 countries.

The transaction is expected to take place by the end of 2014.

Civolution, led by Jean-Michel Masson, is recognised as a world leader in audio watermarking technology and is deployed in hundreds of broadcast channels across the world.

Kantar Media already uses watermarking technology in a number of its TV, radio and internet audience measurement services. In addition to this, Kantar Media's ability to link second screens to TV content will be strengthened through SyncNow, already widely used by many leading broadcasters.

Richard Asquith, global CEO, Kantar Media Audiences, says, "We have long admired the expertise and skills of Jean-Michel and his team. In joining Kantar Media they will strengthen our suite of technology to measure audiences for content across all devices in all formats."

Masson says, "We are excited at the prospect of becoming part of Kantar Media. We already enjoy a successful history of co-operation with the business and look forward to working with broadcasters, agencies, industry bodies and wider markets."

For the record, the SyncNow business allows second screen devices, such as tablets and smartphones, to automatically sync up to TV content, through watermark detection. The NexTracker audio watermarking technology helps identify content viewed across TV, tablet and mobile screens.