Arbitron has acquired Marketing Resources Plus from Interactive Market Systems Inc., part of the VNU Media Measurement & Information Group.
The price tag was $8.9 million. Marketing Resources Plus provides media buying software systems to ad agencies for broadcast and print media; it is based in Indianapolis.
Arbitron President/CEO Steve Morris said Arbitron "will be better able to develop new software solutions, based on a common platform, that will give our agency and station customers a seamless, electronic buy-sell process."
The deal lets Arbitron create new applications that combine the multimedia buying capabilities of MRP's SmartPlus with the research features in Arbitron's TAPSCAN and Media Professional software, a company official said.
Arbitron also has a joint venture with VNU in Scarborough Research.