• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 7, 2011

Leading off the afternoon sessions, Linda Gridley, President and CEO of Gridley & Co. highlighted the critical role M&A has played in shaping the growth of online measurement between 2000 and 2008, as offline companies bought online ones, proprietary data sets became sought after and mobile measurement capability became increasingly important. Demand for companies providing real time measurement have also helped to drive M&A activity. Over the next 12 months she predicts more M&A activity in the area of digital measurement. The biggest acquirers are likely to include the likes of comScore, Nielsen, IBM and Adobe, among others.