Accenture acquires MediaSenz

Regional - Accenture has acquired Australian based media auditor, MediaSenz as part of its plans to expand its Marketing Sciences practice.

The acquisition includes acquiring MediaSenz's proprietary software MediaBiz, which enables companies to track the performance of their ad campaigns without media agency involvement by independently verifying TV spots as their campaigns unfold. This is likely to be most relevant for large emerging markets like China where there is little reliable data on ad spend effectiveness.

"The acquisition of Mediasenz will allow us to reach leading marketers in the Asia Pacific region and other emerging markets and help them benchmark the quality and cost of their media investments in a fragmenting yet rapidly growing communication landscape. With markets in Asia -- particularly in China and India -- recording double-digit annual compound growth rates in advertising, we look forward to helping companies realize the value of marketing analytics in this fast growing region," Jeffrey Merrihue, CEO of Accenture marketing sciences said in a statement.

MediaSenz was founded by Charles Godbold in 2002 to help advertisers gain a better understanding of the media process by implementing system checks, providing cost comparisons and accessing post-analysis performance reporting on advertising campaigns.

Unilever a client of both Accenture Marketing Sciences and MediaSenz commented on the acquistion.

 "The combination of these two leading companies will provide Unilever a high quality, seamless service across diverse global markets," Alan Rutherford, Unilever global vice president of Media said.