Kantar Group unveils makeover for media business

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 30-Nov-07, 14:55

LONDON - Kantar Group, the information, insight and consultancy division of WPP, has announced a major restructuring of its media businesses.

Kantar has launched Kantar Media Research to bring together the group's audience measurement assets and expertise in one unit.

The restructuring has been implemented to help clients benefit from the global expertise that exist within the group and to drive greater investment in new media, digital and cross media audience measurement solutions.

Andy Brown will lead the reconstituted KMR as chief executive officer and will report to Eric Salama, Kantar Group chairman and chief executive.

To speed up KMR's development, Jeff Krentz, Kantar Group's corporate development and strategy director, will join KMR to work with Brown on new media corporate strategy, partnerships, acquisitions and investments.

Brown said "It is a cliche to say that media is undergoing a revolution, however, it is essential that media research strikes the right balance between new cutting edge measurement technologies and rigorous methodologies.

"Kantar is pursuing new digital media opportunities aggressively and the new KMR structure will allow us to align them better with the traditional media audience measurement services, for which KMR has long had a strong reputation."