Harris Interactive

Infobox_Company
company_name = Harris Interactive
company_
company_type = public (NASDAQ - HPOL)
company_slogan =
foundation = 1956
location = Rochester, New York
key_people =
num_employees = 1,300 full time (approximately) [ [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/about/ Harris Interactive Inc - HPOL - About Us] ]
industry = Market Research (Brand & Strategy / Loyalty / Marketing Communications) [ [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/services/ Harris Interactive Inc - HPOL - About Us] ]
homepage = http://www.harrisinteractive.com/
revenue = $211.8 million from continuing operations, FYE June 30, 2007 [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/harris-interactive-inc Harris Interactive Inc - HPOL - About Us] ]
homepage = http://www.harrisinteractive.com/

Harris Interactive (nasdaq|HPOL) is an American market research company that specializes in public opinion research using both telephone and surveys on online panels. The company is the product of a 1996 merger between the Gordon S. Black Company and Louis Harris & Associates.

Harris Interactive has produced the Harris Poll surveys of public opinion since 1963, and is a member of the National Council of Public Polls (NCPP), the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR), and the European Society for Opinion & Marketing Research (ESOMAR). It creates many polls specially for the Channel 4 tv show "8 out of 10 Cats".

History

Harris Interactive was founded by Dr. Gordon S. Black in 1975, then a professor of political science at the University of Rochester in New York. The company was originally named the Gordon S. Black Corporation. In 1996 it acquired Louis Harris & Associates, founded in 1956, from the Gannett Corporation. In 1997 the merged company renamed itself Harris Black International Ltd. [ [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/about/heritage.asp Harris Interactive| About Us| Our Herritage. Last accessed 2007-03-25.] ] .

Growth of Online Polling

In 1997 the Internet was relatively new to the non-technical public.Fact|date=April 2008 Harris Black International Ltd began exploring its use in the fall of that year [ [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/about/heritage.asp Harris Interactive| About Us| Our Herritage. Last accessed 2007-03-25.] ] . In December 1999 it went public and rebranded itself as Harris Interactive, a name that hinted at the increasing role of interactive surveys on the internet.

In 2000, Harris Interactive raised questions about the fairness of the mail abuse system after it was blacklisted by Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS). On July 31, 2000 it filed a law suit against AOL, HotMail, MSN, Qwest, and several other ISPs for blocking its poll participants from participating in the survey. [ [http://www.dotcomeon.com/harris.html "Harris Interactive Files Suit Against AOL, Microsoft, Qwest, and other ISPs Over Restraint of Trade"] ] . The suit was dropped later in September after private negotiations between the parties. [ [http://directmag.com/news/marketing_harris_interactive_drops/ Odell, Patricia. "Harris Interactive Drops Lawsuit Against MAPS, ISPs"] in Direct, Sept 13, 2000.]

Acquisitions Phase

Between 2001 and 2007, Harris Interactive grew by making a series of strategic acquisitions, among them:
* the custom research division of Yankelovich Partners Inc, a prominent market research firm in the last half of the 20th century, acquired in February, 2001. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E2D91430F936A25751C0A9679C8B63 Zippern, Andrew. "Technology briefing: Research; Harris Buys Yankelovich Unit"] in The New York Times, February 15, 2001.]
* Wirthlin Worldwide, well known for its political campaign surveys and award winning market research, acquired in September, 2004. [ [http://sec.edgar-online.com/2004/11/09/0000950152-04-008111/Section5.asp Harriis Interactive Inc - HPOL - Unscheduled Material Events] . Last accessed 2004-03-26.]
* MediaTransfer AG Netresearch & Consulting, a private European online research firm based in Hamburg, Germany which provides access into the $2.2 billion German market research market - the fourth largest in the world., acquired April, 2007. [ [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1195 Harris Interactive Inc - HPOL - News] . Last accessed 2007-01-22.]
* Decima Research, a full-service Canadian research firm; the combination creates one of the largest and the strongest research companies in Canada, acquired in August, 2007. [ [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1243 Harris Interactive Inc - HPOL - News] . Last accessed 2007-01-22.]
* MarketShare, a private Asian research firm with co-located headquarters in Hong Kong and Singapore, providing access to the rapidly growing US $3.3 billion Asia Pacific market, acquired in August, 2007. [ [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1243 Harris Interactive Inc - HPOL - News] . Last accessed 2007-01-22.] They will give out points for taking surveys that can be redeemed for great prizes. However, they are known to stop sending surveys so all points are expired and they can take them away. Be very cautions because they will take points away with no notice.

The Harris Poll

The Harris Poll was created in 1963 by Louis Harris & Associates. When the company merged with Harris Interactive in 1996, the poll became the property of Harris Interactive. Company Members claim that Harris Poll has over 6 million panel-members world-wide.

In 1997 Harris Interactive began developing an on-line version of the poll. It has also developed several internet based specialist polls, among them:

* Harris Interactive College Football Poll

Competitors

Harris Interactives has competitors in many sectors of the market research industry [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/harris-interactive-inc Harris Interactive: Information from Answers.com] ] . Within the interactive survey market its competitors are :

* Synovate

Up to date information about competitors may be obtained at these sites:
* [http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=HPOL Yahoo Finance] - provides key financial figures relative to competitors and industry as a whole. As of 2003-03-27, the yahoo listing only considers the online survey industry.

References