• by Erik Sass , August 16, 2011

With a new cross-media research service about to launch, the Media Behavior Institute -- a relatively new research outfit, founded in New York City in 2008 -- has received equity investments from two heavyweights of media research: GfK MRI and Nielsen. Both acquired a 25% stake in MBI.

The companies said the investments are specifically intended to support MBI's upcoming launch of USA TouchPoints, which aims to give marketers a closer, more precise view of consumer media behaviors on a day-to-day basis.

As part of the deal, GfK MRI President/CEO Kathi Love and Matt O'Grady, Nielsen executive vice president for media audience measurement, will both be joining the board of MBI. They take seats alongside MBI CEO Jim Spaeth and COO Alice K. Sylvester, who helped co-found the company three years ago.

GfK MRI's involvement with MBI dates back to 2009, when the companies conducted a test run of smartphone diaries for USA TouchPoints.

USA TouchPoints will equip 2,000 American consumers with smartphones loaded with a special app that allows them to record their media usage at half-hour intervals throughout the day, as well as other potentially relevant information, such as where they are, who they are with, current activities and their moods when consuming media. This information, MBI hopes, will help marketers better understand the context of media consumption with an eye to reception of brand messages.

Because respondents are drawn from a sample of recent participants in GfK MRI's annual Survey of the American Consumer, the research service can focus on purchasers of specific product categories and brands, which MBI says should yield even more precise data for marketers in these categories.

MBI recently received a vote of confidence from the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, an industry research consortium supported by big advertisers, which funded a successful proof-of-concept study for USA TouchPoints.