Ipsos Acquires GfK's KnowledgePanel

In the US, Ipsos has acquired GfK's probability-based online panel, for an undisclosed sum, and added it to the Ipsos Public Affairs division.

In October, Ipsos completed the acquisition of four global divisions of GfK Custom Business Research - Customer Experience, Experience Innovation, Health, and Public Affairs - for a total of EUR 105m. With the latest acquisition, Ipsos says KnowledgePanel's design will also be available through the Ipsos eNation Omnibus and Global Advisor services.

GfK itself gained the KnowledgePanel through its 2011 acquisition of consumer specialist Knowledge Networks. The panel provides insights on consumer motivations and actual behavior in areas such as media usage, market size, purchase intent and product acceptance. With approximately 55,000 members, KnowledgePanel's address-based sampling (ABS), provides statistically valid representation of the US population, as well as many difficult-to-sample populations such as cellphone-only households, African Americans, Latinos and young adults.

Annie Weber, who joined from GfK last October as Ipsos SVP and MD of KnowledgePanel, says the acquisition 'has allowed our high caliber research, that can withstand rigorous scrutiny from the press or other audiences, to merge with Ipsos highly acclaimed Public Affairs division to provide a trusted source of relevant public opinion information'.

Web site: www.ipsos.com .