Welcome to twir — the weekly show delivering AI-powered summaries of market research news and insights. Each week, we scan and ingest media from top blogs, podcasts, articles, and reports, distilling the key trends shaping the industry. Best of all, twir episodes learn and get smarter over time, building a POV on an archive of past news and trends.
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Episode Summary: AI, Innovation, and Market Research Trends (January 30 – February 5, 2026)
AI and Tech Innovations in Market Research
- YouGov Debuts AI “BrandIndex Voices” for Qual at Scale – YouGov launched an AI-driven qualitative tool BrandIndex Voices to reveal why brand perception changes, combining conversational AI interviews with its panel data for real-time theme and sentiment analysis. The tool adapts to survey responses with natural language prompts and analyzes thousands of open-ended replies instantly, helping brands understand the “why” behind tracking metrics.
- EDO’s ChatEDO Brings Conversational AI to TV Ad Insights – Advertising analytics firm EDO rolled out ChatEDO, a GPT-powered assistant that lets users query its vast Convergent TV ad outcomes database in plain language. The AI agent provides instant answers with visuals on topics like creative impact and share shifts, by switching between the latest large models (GPT-5, Claude Opus, etc.) to deliver advanced TV campaign intelligence more accessibly.
- Fundamental Lands $255M to Launch “Large Tabular Model” Platform – San Francisco startup Fundamental emerged with $255 million in funding and its NEXUS analytics platform, which uses a custom foundation AI model for structured data. Built by ex-DeepMind engineers, NEXUS ingests enterprises’ tabular datasets with minimal prep and generates predictive forecasts (“what will happen next”) much faster than legacy BI tools. A strategic AWS partnership will help integrate Fundamental’s “OS for business decisions” into enterprise cloud stacks.
- STRAT7 Unveils Nucleus AI Hub for Research Workflow – Insights group STRAT7 introduced Nucleus, an AI hub developed with clients over two years, embedding “agent” automation into every research phase. Three families of AI agents – Design, Discovery, and Impact – now assist STRAT7’s teams: from turning briefs into discussion guides, to auto-moderating and summarizing qualitative conversations, to generating charts and chatbots for reporting. The firm says Nucleus augments human consultants to deliver insights faster and beyond what was previously possible, without replacing human expertise.
- Discord Analytics Startup Levellr Secures $2.5M Seed – UK-based Levellr, which analyzes gaming community chats on Discord, raised $2.5 million to expand its AI platform that helps game studios identify player sentiment and issues in real time. Levellr’s dashboard surfaces trending topics and sentiments from 200M+ Discord users, allowing studios to catch churn signals or bugs (e.g. “What bugs block Level 23?”) through contextual AI-driven answers from user conversations. The funding, led by Fuel Ventures with Zynga’s founder participating, will fuel development of agentic features to automatically act on player feedback across communities.
B2B Market Research Developments
- Growgetter Relaunches as Full-Funnel Growth Partner – Growth marketing consultancy Growgetter, co-founded by Kristin Luck and Jenn Mancusi, has rebranded and expanded its services for MR and CX firms. Less than 3 years old, Growgetter now offers two new solutions – Sales & Systems (fixing revenue infrastructure like CRM and lead gen) and Build for Scale (prepping businesses for fundraising and exits) – alongside its marketing and strategy offerings. The firm’s CEO Mancusi says tying marketing directly to revenue outcomes is critical, and the new end-to-end approach helps insights companies align strategy, systems, and sales for growth.
- LiveRamp Reports Growth and Touts AI Initiatives – Data connectivity platform LiveRamp posted a 9% revenue rise (to $212M) last quarter, with operating income up 36%. CEO Scott Howe noted the firm hit record margins and cash flow, crediting new AI-driven products and partnerships for accelerating growth. In the quarter, LiveRamp debuted AI tools in its Data Marketplace and expanded its partnership with Publicis, positioning the company for continued 2027 momentum. The firm forecasts ~9% full-year revenue growth as it integrates more AI and data partnerships into its offerings.
Partnerships, Mergers, and Acquisitions
- Advertima Teams with Adtrac & PADS4 for Retail Media Metrics – Swiss audience analytics firm Advertima partnered with OOH platform Adtrac and signage software PADS4 to bring online-style ad measurement to in-store retail media. The alliance enables impression-based, real-time ad delivery on PADS4’s digital screens in malls, transit hubs and stores, using Advertima’s computer vision to verify audiences and outcomes. The goal is to let physical retail media offer the same performance accountability as digital ads, helping retailers monetize in-store inventory with audience-based guarantees.
- Konovo Acquires Rare Patient Voice Panel – In a healthcare insights play, tech-led intelligence firm Konovo bought Rare Patient Voice (RPV), a panel of 200,000+ patients and caregivers across 1,500 conditions. Announced Feb 3, the deal combines RPV’s niche patient recruitment capabilities with Konovo’s platform and global physician network, creating an integrated solution for hard-to-reach healthcare audiences. Konovo’s CEO Tal Rosenberg said adding RPV’s community will help researchers capture patient perspectives alongside physician insights in one place, to accelerate patient-centric decisions in life sciences.
Industry Leadership & Organizational Changes
- Beyond Blue Hires Strategy Head from Planning Shop – UK-based pharma insights agency Beyond Blue (formerly Blueprint Partnership) appointed Kristina DiPietrantonio as Head of Strategy. DiPietrantonio, ex-EVP at Omnicom’s The Planning Shop, brings 17+ years in healthcare consulting to bridge the gap “between insight and real-world execution” for Beyond Blue’s global pharma clients. The CEO says her strategic mindset and passion for client impact will inject fresh energy as the firm expands its strategy offerings.
- Kantar Names Ex-Googler to Lead Southeast Asia – Kantar appointed Rika Sharma, a former Google APAC sales strategy lead, as Executive Managing Director for Southeast Asia and Singapore. Sharma’s two decades of digital and agency experience will help accelerate Kantar’s growth and alignment across the SEA region. Regional CEO Cheong Tai Leung said Sharma’s mix of strategic depth and commercial acumen is “instrumental” for strengthening client partnerships and driving Kantar’s ambitions in the fast-growing SE Asian markets.
- Innovid CEO Takes Innovation Helm at Mediaocean – Ad tech group Mediaocean expanded Zvika Netter’s role, adding a new title of Chief Innovation Officer to his duties as CEO of its video ad firm Innovid. Netter will now spearhead innovation across Mediaocean’s platforms (including Prisma and Optica), focusing on building more unified, AI-powered ad planning and measurement tools. Mediaocean’s CEO said this group-wide role formalizes Netter’s vision and ensures their emerging AI initiatives (like the Orchestrator cross-channel AI framework) are executed cohesively to drive adaptive, outcome-based advertising solutions.