MarketCast
Founded 1988 Β· 510 employees on LinkedIn Β· 1 known investors
MarketCast provides ad testing and measurement solutions that predict and validate advertising creative performance across CTV, social, digital, and linear platforms. It serves advertisers and brands, offering research and behavioral data to assess ad resonance, brand lift, and campaign impact.
Also known as MarketCast Group
Founders & leadership
Investors Β· 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026MarketCast is an American market research and data analytics company based in Los Angeles that focuses on marketing effectiveness for brands, advertisers, media platforms and entertainment companies. Its solution set spans advertising effectiveness (pre-testing through in-market measurement across platforms), brand tracking that combines consumer behavioral data with longitudinal research, entertainment content research and testing for studios and streaming platforms, consumer and cultural research and insights, and sponsorship measurement covering leagues, athletes, media, product placement and events. Named offerings include Brand Effect, used to rank ad breakthrough, brand linkage and message communication, and Total Effect, which links creative, in-market media performance and business outcomes in a single measurement loop.
The company describes a research platform that combines AI models, data science and technology to support the design, delivery and analysis of studies, positioning AI as an augmentation of rather than a replacement for consumer input. Its work covers fandom, materials testing (trailers, TV spots, print ads), concept and positioning studies, exit polls, recruited audience screenings, tracking studies, focus groups, brand and franchise studies, title tests, post-release studies, and attitudes and usage research. Clients cited on its site include Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing, Fox Advertising and AAA Club Alliance; the company states that the majority of the largest US advertising spenders are clients. Historically it has served Hollywood studios, streaming media services, video game publishers, lifestyle businesses and sports leagues.
Founding story
MarketCast was founded in 1987; accounts credit sociology professors Joseph Helfgot, Frank Romo and Michael Schwartz with starting the business in Boston in the late 1980s, with Helfgot presenting positioning studies to Orion Pictures to support marketing for Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs.
Business model
MarketCast sells syndicated and custom marketing research, measurement and analytics services to brands, advertisers, media companies and sports properties, delivered by research teams and supported by an internal research platform, AI models and benchmarking data repositories.
Client engagements for research and measurement solutions, including ongoing and always-on programs such as longitudinal ad testing and brand tracking, and custom studies such as sponsor impact research.
Traction
The company reports a team of over 300 researchers, technologists and data scientists and states that the majority of top US advertising spenders are clients; Wikipedia lists 700 employees. Published client references include Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing, Fox Advertising and AAA Club Alliance, and case studies describe programs with a top-three telecommunications provider, a global automotive brand and a toy brand.
Latest developments
On July 15, 2026 the company announced three senior appointments: Joshua Kowal as Global Head of Customer Success (joining from Market Fusion Analytics, previously Nielsen), Ben Samuel as SVP, Commercial Europe (joining from AudienceProject, previously Nielsen, Innovid, PHD Worldwide and Google), and Millie Kronsteiner as VP, Media, framed as investment in client partnership, media platform relationships and European growth.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Described as a leading global marketing research provider and as a leading provider of iterative testing and benchmarking services underpinning worldwide marketing campaigns, with a stated client base spanning most of the largest US advertising spenders.
Combines attitudinal research with behavioral data and advanced analytics across advertising, brand, content and sponsorship in one provider, backed by a large benchmarking data repository, named solutions such as Brand Effect and Total Effect, and an AI-enabled research platform.
Technology
A research platform bringing together AI models, data science and engineering to accelerate study design, delivery and analysis, with AI integrated across the research process; the company merges data science, research and engineering to connect what audiences think and feel with how they behave.
Go-to-market
Direct enterprise sales and client-partnership teams organized around media, customer success and regional commercial leadership, supported by published insights, case studies, a newsletter and client testimonials; the company has appointed a commercial lead for Europe to grow business outside the US.
Large advertisers and brands, media platforms and broadcasters, film and television studios and streaming services, video game publishers, lifestyle businesses, and sports leagues and sponsorship rights holders.
Geography
Headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in New York City, Boston, London, Pune and Reading; services are offered worldwide, and the company is investing in a European operation led from a dedicated commercial role.
History
After its late-1980s founding, MarketCast was acquired by Reed Business Information in 2000 and sold to Shamrock Holdings/Shamrock Capital in 2012, with RLJ Equity Partners and State Street Global Advisors acquiring the company in December 2014. In October 2016, Kohlberg & Company agreed to buy the RLJ and State Street ownership interest, with closing expected by the end of November 2016. The company grew through acquisitions of Insight Strategy Group (August 2015), Fizziology (August 2017), Turnkey Intelligence (2018), Deductive (September 2020) and Phoenix Marketing International (March 2022), and subsequently operated through multiple consumer insights branches. Leadership has included Henry Shapiro as CEO and later Chairman, John Batter appointed CEO in 2019, Jeremy Radisich named President in 2018, and Lana Busignani serving as CEO in current company communications.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 11
launches, deals, and filingsMarketCast announced Joshua Kowal as Global Head of Customer Success, Ben Samuel as SVP, Commercial Europe, and Millie Kronsteiner as VP, Media, citing investment in client partnership and European growth.
Acquisition of New York-headquartered Phoenix Marketing International, a research and analytics provider specializing in advertising measurement.
Acquisition of data science company Deductive, expanding data science services for media and entertainment companies and brands.
Acquisition of Turnkey Intelligence, a sports research firm.
Acquisition of Fizziology, a data analytics company based in Indianapolis.
Kohlberg & Company agreed to acquire the ownership interests of RLJ Equity Partners and State Street Global Advisors in MarketCast, with closing expected by the end of November 2016; Lazard Middle Market advised MarketCast and Ropes & Gray advised Kohlberg.
Acquisition of the New York-based research and strategy agency Insight Strategy Group, completed under RLJ Equity Partners and State Street Global Advisors ownership.
RLJ Equity Partners and State Street Global Advisors acquired MarketCast from Shamrock Capital Advisors in December 2014.
MarketCast was sold to Shamrock Holdings/Shamrock Capital, having previously been acquired by Reed Business Information in 2000.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
βΈResearch sources Β· 7
primary sources listed
- MarketCastmarketcast.com Β· web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does MarketCast do?
- MarketCast is a Los Angeles-based marketing research firm measuring advertising, brand, content and sponsorship effectiveness.
- Who are MarketCast's investors?
- MarketCast's investors include Shamrock Capital.