Former president of market research company Ipsos OTX Media CT Bruce Friend has joined research company Vision Critical as president of its media and entertainment unit, according to reports. Friend head up this new division, based in Los Angeles, which will compete in an already crowded market in Hollywood when it comes to film research. Other companies include Friend's former outlet, Ipsos, as well as MarketCast and the venerable National Research Group. Friend had also worked MTV, HBO, Telemundo and Sony before joining OTX, which was later acquired by Ipsos.  

In its latest monthly metrics report, mobile ad network Jumptap suggests campaigns that utilize third-party data perform better than those without. A second-quarter study of campaigns in various industry verticals found those using specialized targeting data had double-digit increases in click-through rates. The largest CTR increases were seen in travel (up 72%), auto (69%) and pharmaceutical (37.5%). Finance, CPG, technology and insurance all had CTR gains of 25% to 35%. Jumptap works with third-party data providers including

To help ramp up efforts to monetize its location-based service, Foursquare has tapped former Yahoo executive Rob Wilk as vice president of sales. Before joining Foursquare, Wilk was senior director, search account management at Yahoo, overseeing a team of 60 tasked with driving optimal search performance for some of the company's largest advertisers. Other than a short stint at ChaCha Mobile, he has spent most of the last 17 years with Yahoo in various management positions including directory of agency sales and regional sales manager. Based in New …

Mobile ad exchange Nexage has closed another $5 million in funding from Hearst Interactive Media, bringing its total second-round venture financing to $15 million. Prior investors in the round included SingTel Innov8, Relay Ventures and GrandBanks Capital. “Nexage has been able to take and maintain industry leadership, especially in mobile RTB,” said Darcy Frisch, VP, Hearst Interactive Media, in a statement. “We are thrilled about this opportunity to invest in Nexage, helping it …

Mobile demand-side platform (DSP) StrikeAd on Monday announced its expansion into Asia with the opening of a new office in Singapore. Leading its Asian operations is Carl Costa, previously a founder and managing director of mobile gaming and advertising network 24MAS. Before that, Costa was VP of sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Enpocket, which was acquired by Nokia in 2007.

"Reader Beware," the Financial Times Blog Alphaville warns near the top of its site. Reporters contributing to the blog don't necessarily check the facts before running with a story. And the result is that some stories, the site acknowledges, turn out to be "complete rubbish." And that's exactly what a report turned out to be on the FT site last Friday afternoon, regarding merger talks between Publicis Groupe and Interpublic Group. Today Publicis issued a formal statement that indicated that the FT Blog story was, well, complete rubbish. No truth to it all. The blog then apologized for the story …

Interpublic Company shares were up 12% to nearly $11 on market speculation that Publicis Groupe was preparing a takeover offer of approximately $6 billion for the company. The initial report that triggered the speculation was a blog published by the Financial Times. The IPG trading activity passed a certain threshold that triggered a call to the holding from the New York Stock Exchange, where the company's shares are traded, requesting that IPG issue a statement addressing the speculation. According to sources, if some big transaction was up that the company was aware that was moving its stock, it would have …

Johnny Won, mobile and gaming platforms manager at Hill Holliday, is leaving the IPG unit to launch a startup focused on local mobile search with Zach Taylor, formerly a creative technologist at McGarryBowen. Won, who wraps up this week at Hill Holliday, offered few details about his next venture, but suggested there's plenty of room for improvement in local search. “The core problem is people don't really know what's going on around them and everything already out there sucks,” he said. To address that issue, Won plans …

Twitter will give NASCAR fans a chance to have a social conversation with legend Richard Petty. The former driver plans to celebrate turning age 75 by reaching out to fans on the social media site. Fans are encouraged to tweet questions during the days leading up to the Ask Me Anything event scheduled for Aug. 7, sponsored by Smithfield Foods. Fans who Tweet questions using the hashtag, #SFDPetty, either before or during the event, will be entered into a drawing to win two tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 13, a baseball cap autographed …

Ethan Beard, Facebook's director of platform partnerships, is the latest top executive to leave the company in the wake of its initial public offering in May. Beard, who joined Facebook in 2008, publicly announced his departure in an Inside Facebook post today, according to the Inside Facebook blog. He didn't indicate what his next step will be. Beard's exit follows only a week after Carl Sjogreen announced he was leaving Facebook. The social network's CTO, Bret Taylor, gave notice in June and former corporate communications director Barry Schnitt joined Pinterest the same month in …