TNS China and CTR market research merge their continuous research panel services in China

Company Brief

New Delhi, January 22, 2008

TNS, a world leader in market information and insight, announced today that its TNS Worldpanel China continuous research service, operated by TNS China, has merged with the continuous panel service run by the TNS joint venture CTR Market Research. The merger creates the strongest business of its kind in China.

Until now, the CTR Consumer Panel has focused on local clients, while TNS Worldpanel China has concentrated on global clients based overseas but with operations in Mainland China. The services have now merged under the world-renowned TNS Worldpanel brand and will be led by Jason Yu, who has been appointed General Manager, TNS Worldpanel China.

David Lowden, Chief Executive of TNS, said: “Unifying these two separate panel activities under the TNS Worldpanel brand means a bright new future for our clients that depend on continuous research services. China’s consumption is growing rapidly and many brands require continuous research to measure their share as buying power grows and as brands build their market positions. Our clients can now benefit from a more powerful offering, a focused management team, and strong support from TNS in terms of products, systems and expertise.”

Madam Chen Ruoyu, the President of CTR Market Research, said: “This is a big event in China’s market research industry and will bring significant benefits for clients. TNS Worldpanel has an excellent reputation and it makes sense to develop our continuous research service under the highly regarded brand of TNS Worldpanel. We look forward to providing fully integrated continuous measurement of consumer purchasing behaviour, and to delivering the enhanced service, consistency and quality our clients require.”

Following the merger, TNS Worldpanel China now continuously measures household consumption across a variety of product categories including cosmetics, food and beverages and the toiletry/household sector. It has built its services on its National Urban Panel, a pre-recruited sample of families covering 20 provinces and four municipality cities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing).

For further information please contact:

Neha Ahluwalia

Email: Neha.Ahluwalia@tns-global.com