The Media Rating Council (MRC) this morning announced
Executive Director and CEO George Ivie has agreed to a new, five-year extension to his contract.
Ivie, already the longest-running executive director since the council was formed in 1964,
joined in 2000 and his new contract takes him through at least 2027.
The extension comes as the MRC has embarked on setting new standards for new forms of advertising and media industry
measurement, including so-called outcomes-based measurement (attribution, mix modeling, sales lift, etc.), as well as new advertising formats such as "intrinsic" in-game advertising experiences. It
also comes as the MRC is weighing the impact and standards for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
“MRC has flourished over the years of George’s
leadership,” Dale Coons, senior vice president and media research director at Campbell Ewald, and chairman of the MRC’s board of directors, said in a statement announcing his new term.
“The organization’s membership has more than tripled, the number of audits MRC oversees annually has grown more than five-fold and the diversity of measurement areas for which MRC has
authored standards and subsequently conducted audits has expanded many times over. George’s thoroughness, insight and diplomacy are highlights of his tenure as Executive Director of the
MRC. Today’s MRC is looked to as one of the industry’s foremost authorities on measurement issues, which is a testament to George’s vision and skill, and we’re thrilled
to know that he’ll be continuing to lead MRC as we face the critical measurement challenges that lie ahead.”
As CEO of the nonprofit council, Ivie earned $555,880 in
compensation in 2019, the last a public record of the MRC's Internal Revenue Service tax filing is available for.
