Looking to compliment its research offerings beyond providing information about online advertising, TNS Media Intelligence has acquired Cymfony, a leading marketing analytics company that monitors social media along with blogs. The move, according to TNS CEO Steven Fredericks, is in response to the shift of marketing from an analog to a digital platform, the growth of influence and control by the consumer, and the blurring lines between different forms of media - including consumer-generated media, MediaPost reports. Fredericks adds that TNS was already tracking online ad spending for 24 million brands, while adding about 300 brands daily."People are overwhelmed with data," Fredericks said. The goal is "to get to the point where we can now start to view the data, analyze the data and interpret it so clients can act on it in a very short period of time."

Cymfony's staff will join the TNS MI organization, remaining at their present location outside Boston. The company will now be known as TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.

The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI), the New York-based investment banking firm that specializes in media and information, represented Cymfony in the transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.