MRI-Simmons Appoints Brian Katz as Vice President of Advanced Advertising

Industry veteran brings over 25 years of experience in TV and digital research, audience insights, sales, and data strategy

NEW YORK, September 7, 2022 -- MRI-Simmons, the essential consumer truth set, today announced the addition of Brian Katz as Vice President of Advanced Advertising. Based in New York, Katz will play a critical role in the growth of advanced advertising revenue and product innovation for MRI-Simmons. Working closely with the commercial team, he will be tasked with helping publishers, media, and alternative measurement companies leverage MRI-Simmons’ trusted consumer truth set for advanced advertising initiatives.

"We see the advanced advertising ecosystem as an area that is rife with opportunity, and I am excited to add Brian to lead the growth of this sector," said Josh Pisano, SVP of Business Development and Product Strategy at MRI-Simmons. “Brian’s extensive experience in media will help accelerate the utilization and adoption of MRI-Simmons’ essential consumer insights throughout the advanced advertising landscape.”

Prior to joining MRI-Simmons, Katz served as SVP of Sales at 605, an independent TV measurement firm offering advertising and content measurement, full-funnel attribution, media planning, optimization, and analytical solutions. At 605, he recruited and managed a sales organization that spanned MVPD, programmer, agency, and brand verticals. Katz has also held leadership roles at Eyeview, TiVo Research, and NBC Universal.

“MRI Simmons has been a leader in the data-driven linear insights and planning space for decades, and I could not be more excited to help them expand into addressable and digital activation,” said Katz. “The industry is focused on leveraging the most impactful datasets for cross-screen optimization and outcome-based performance, and our clients have already seen significant results in driving campaign success. Our data is nationally representative and privacy-compliant, which has been a challenge with others in the space.

Katz’ appointment comes at a time of ongoing product innovation at MRI-Simmons. After launching its USA Study in 2021, MRI-Simmons is now working with various identify partners to scale its representative panel for the purposes of media planning, optimization, and activation beyond linear TV into addressable and CTV / digital channels. Programmers, agencies, and brands are now able to leverage MRI-Simmons’ leading consumer truth set to drive performance lift across key KPIs, including awareness, tune-in and sales lift.

About MRI-Simmons

MRI-Simmons is the leading provider of insights on the American consumer. With thousands of attitudinal and behavioral data points, gathered through ongoing surveys and passive measurement, MRI-Simmons empowers advertisers, agencies, and media companies with deeper insights into the “why” behind consumer behavior.

The company’s flagship product (MRI-Simmons USA) is the leading multi-media study of Americans and is widely recognized as the industry standard for magazine audience ratings. Powered by address-based probabilistic sampling, MRI-Simmons USA measures real people, chosen at random to represent the US population in all its variations. This methodological approach ensures stability of insights and provides the most accurate view of the American consumer.

Launched as a joint venture in 2019, MRI-Simmons is co-owned by GfK and SymphonyAI Group, with GfK as the majority partner. To learn more, visit mrisimmons.com, or follow @MRI_Simmons on Twitter.


Media Contact

Matt Cumello
VP, Head of Marketing
press.ms@mrisimmons.com