MarketCast said it acquired Phoenix Marketing International, a company that specializes in advertising measurement.
The deal is valued at about $150 million, MarketCast said.
Phoenix is known for its quick ad testing. The company’s Phoenix Brand Effect platform – formerly Nielsen TV Brand Effect – measures ad performance, including the influence of ads on consumer affinity and consideration, and purchase intent and lift.
Phoenix’s clients include NBCUniversal.
“The acquisition of Phoenix supports MarketCast’s vision of creating the most tech and data-forward research business on the planet, where primary research is combined with big data to determine what fans watch, buy, and listen to most, and why they choose to watch, buy, and listen” said John Batter, CEO of MarketCast. “We see tremendous opportunity to bring these two businesses together, combining our unique media research and big data expertise to innovate new ad effectiveness solutions.”
Earlier this year, MarketCast acquired real-time entertainment research platform, Invoke, and, in late 2020, acquired and integrated data science leader, Deductive.
With the acquisition of Phoenix, MarketCast doubles in size, with 100 technologists and data scientists and another 400 quantitative and qualitative researchers.
“We are very excited to join MarketCast, a team that shares our common values, passion, and vision for the future of advertising research and technology,” said Phoenix founder and CEO Allen DeCotiis. “With a powerful portfolio of media and advertising research and a record of working with the biggest names in entertainment, sports, and technology, MarketCast is the ideal home for Phoenix’s people, platforms and clients, and we look forward to beginning this new chapter of growth and innovation together.” ■
