A history of success

TNS is a research Brand you can trust. Over 60 years, the world’s largest custom market information and insight group has built a reputation for credibility, trust and expertise.

A Distinguished Heritage

The 1960s saw the creation of five of the market research companies that are at the heart of the Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) group today:

Intersearch in the USA in1960.
AGB in UK in 1962.
Sofres in France in 1963.
Frank Small Associates in Australia in 1964.
Taylor Nelson in UK in 1965.

But the very first seeds had been sown in the USA in 1946, when NFO (National Family Opinion) opened for business.

Credibility and Trust

In the 60s, 70s and 80s, all these companies grew significantly, introducing a wide and increasingly sophisticated range of research solutions and using the latest technological developments. And as they and their clients grew, they started to create their international networks:

Sofres opened offices in six European countries, the US and 12 countries in Asia Pacific
Taylor Nelson and AGB each developed a UK network of offices and began to acquire businesses in Europe
NFO grew to become the by-word for managed access panels in the USA

Vision and global scope

It soon became clear that brands were becoming global, and brand owners would need global market information partners.

In the 1990s, the market research industry started to consolidate, as major clients demanded an increasingly international service.

NFO made a series of acquistions around the world and the companies that now form TNS responded to the changing market by joining forces, enabling them to deliver consistently high quality services to customers around the world.