• by Wayne Friedman , December 20, 2016

Manish Bhatia, chief product officer of comScore, has been named chief executive officer of Kantar Media North America.

Bhatia will take on responsibility for the management of all of Kantar Media's U.S. services, including advertising intelligence, TGI (Target Group Index), SRDS and Kantar CMAG. He will develop these businesses and drive the development of Kantar Media’s digital business both organically and via acquisition. 

Andy Brown, global CEO/chairman of Kantar Media, stated on the hire: “We seek to provide more holistic solutions for clients making the transition from traditional to digital."

In addition, Bhatia will join the global board of Kantar Media and work closely with the other Kantar U.S. businesses: Kantar Millward Brown, Kantar TNS and Kantar Worldpanel Shopcom.

Bhatia had been chief product officer at comScore since January 2016, responsible for strategy and product development for the company's global TV and digital product portfolio, including cross-media audience and advertising measurement. Before that he was chief revenue officer for the company, overseeing digital investments, providing clients with digital measurement and analytics, delivering insights on web, mobile and TV consumer behavior.

Bhatia also had been been EVP of new product innovation at Arbitron, where he focused on developing cross-media products for TV, online and mobile platforms. Previous to Arbitron, he was president/CEO of Symphony Advanced Media.

Additionally, Bhatia held various senior level positions at Nielsen, such as president of Nielsen’s Advanced Digital Services.

This past summer comScore admitted to accounting issues, resulting in a major hit on its stock price and the departure of chief executive Serge Matta with co-founder and chairman emeritus Gian Fulgoni becoming chief executive officer.