• by Sara Guaglione , October 22, 2020

MRC and Penske Media Corporation (PMC) announced they will form a joint data business, a month after news broke that PMC would pay about $225 million to control a joint venture that brings the two companies’ Hollywood magazines under one roof.

The new data business combines MRC Data (formerly Nielsen Music), Alpha Data and Variety Business Intelligence. 

MRC and PMC will have equal ownership and control. The businesses will undergo a transition period through early next year.

Current MRC Data president Deanna Brown will serve as interim head, and oversee day-to-day operations.

The business spans music, film, television and digital industries, while powering domestic and global charts.

MRC Data includes Billboard music charts, which first launched in 1940. MRC Data products include Music Connect, Broadcast Data Systems and Music360.

Alpha Data, formerly known as BuzzAngle, is a music-analytics tool and daily charts service. It powers the Rolling Stone charts, which launched in July 2019. 

Variety Business Intelligence (VBI) oversees Variety Insight, an entertainment research and information platform, and Vscore, a “familiarity and appeal” metric. It also houses the Variety Archives of editorial content.

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

The deal announced back in September will bring PMC's Variety, Rolling Stone and Music Business Worldwide together with MRC’s The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Vibe under the newly created PMRC. Its daily operations will be led by PMC.