What SmithGeiger Group does

SmithGeiger Group is a privately held, founder-led custom research and strategic consulting firm headquartered in Westlake Village, California, operating since at least the early 2000s under co-founders Dave Smith (CEO) and Seth Geiger (President). The firm delivers quantitative and qualitative research, analytics, and strategic consulting primarily to media, broadcasting, and consumer brand clients, with a roster that includes ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Disney, Warner Bros., Google, Microsoft, AT&T, T-Mobile, and over 100 US television stations. The platform combines traditional methodologies (online and mobile surveys, focus groups, dial tests, eye tracking) with proprietary technology including Virtual Tag Along® (a trademarked digital ethnography methodology), Flash Reports (one-click SPSS-based data access), and partnership-enabled capabilities in moment-to-moment digital monitoring (Stanford University), real-time social equity scoring (ShareRocket), and digital sentiment monitoring (Vertical Knowledge).

Revenue is generated through project-based professional services engagements across custom research, ongoing strategic consulting, the Elevate ad sales optimization program (sub-brand), and the AccelerateSG media growth consulting affiliate. Pricing is custom per engagement and not publicly disclosed. The go-to-market is exclusively direct enterprise sales to senior executives at networks, station groups, cable channels, and consumer brands, supplemented by thought leadership content marketing and industry conference presence. The firm holds a GSA Schedule Contract (GS-07F-0535Y) enabling federal-sector work and is GDPR, CCPA, and COPPA compliant, with international partners in Norway, Australia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Operating sub-brands Elevate and AccelerateSG extend the addressable surface into ad sales training and media growth strategy.

Name

SmithGeiger Group

Legal name

SmithGeiger, LLC

Website

https://smithgeigergroup.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

SmithGeiger Group is a privately held research and consulting firm that delivers custom quantitative and qualitative research, analytics, and strategic advisory services primarily to US media companies, broadcasters, and consumer brands, leveraging proprietary methodologies and partnerships with Stanford, ShareRocket, and Vertical Knowledge.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Westlake Village

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Custom Research Services: Full-service custom research including quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Services include online/mobile surveys, brand tracking, segmentation studies, ad effectiveness, program testing, and consulting. Revenue generated through project-based engagements with media companies, consumer brands, and government clients.
2. Strategic Consulting: Ongoing consulting engagements supporting on-air and digital initiatives, content development, audience growth strategies, and revenue optimization. Teams consult with 100+ stations across the US and multiple media companies.
3. Elevate Program: Ad sales optimization program delivering proven processes to increase ad sales. Includes training sessions, workshops, and pitch week support. Generated $20M in new partner revenues last year with 100% client retention.
4. Relationship Revenue Workshops: Seven focused workshops covering On Air/Digital Content Revenue Optimization, Good Deeds and Public Service Revenue, Native and Branded Content Revenue, Social Media Revenue, Video and OTT Revenue, Contests and Sweepstakes Revenue, and Agency Services.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

SmithGeiger Group is a custom quantitative and qualitative research, analytics, and strategic consulting firm serving media companies, broadcasters, consumer brands, and government agencies. Its engagements span surveys, brand tracking, segmentation, ethnographies, focus groups, dial tests, eye tracking, facial coding, and digital monitoring, supported by proprietary methodologies such as Virtual Tag Along® and Flash Reports, and delivered through separately branded offerings including Elevate and AccelerateSG.

Product overview

SmithGeiger Group operates as a research and consulting firm offering a unified platform of research services rather than a traditional software product. The core offering combines quantitative research (online/mobile surveys, brand tracking, segmentation) and qualitative services (focus groups, ethnographies, dial tests) delivered through proprietary tools including Flash Reports for one-click data access and Virtual Tag Along for digital ethnography. Additional branded offerings include Elevate (ad sales training) and AccelerateSG (media strategy consulting). The company serves media, broadcast, and digital industries with insights-driven strategy rather than a modular SaaS architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Elevate: A brand that helps empower ad partners with services including brand awareness, discussion panels, creative consulting, brand lift studies, and advanced media correlation analysis.
• AccelerateSG

Products and services

• Custom Research & Insights Services Custom quantitative and qualitative research engagements for media companies, broadcasters, consumer brands, and government agencies, including surveys, brand tracking, segmentation, ethnographies, focus groups, dial tests, eye tracking, facial coding, and digital monitoring.
• Strategic Consulting Senior-partner-led strategic advisory engagements that translate research insights into recommendations on programming, marketing, brand positioning, and growth strategy for media, brand, and government clients.
• Elevate Elevate is a separately branded productized program from SmithGeiger that helps media companies optimize ad sales performance through structured research, analytics, and consulting engagements.
• AccelerateSG AccelerateSG is a separately branded growth advisory offering from SmithGeiger that helps media companies accelerate audience, revenue, and brand growth through research-backed strategy engagements.
• Flash Reports Flash Reports is a proprietary real-time reporting offering from SmithGeiger that delivers rapid-turn research findings and analytics to clients on an ongoing basis.
• Virtual Tag Along® Virtual Tag Along® is SmithGeiger's proprietary research methodology used to capture in-context, real-world audience insights, often deployed as part of custom research engagements for media and brand clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• $20M new partner revenues generated through Elevate program in one year with 100% client retention
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers24 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered key, notable and core.

• Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI)keyStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Major national study partnership examining journalism credibility and the impact of 'no comment' responses on public trust. SmithGeiger designed and executed the survey, built data infrastructure, and collaborated with RJI on analytical framework.
• Stanford UniversitykeyTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for moment-to-moment immersive digital monitoring technology. Collaborates on developing innovative research methodologies and platforms for tracking consumer digital behavior.
• ShareRocketkeyTechnology or IntegrationPartnership to deliver real-time social equity scores. Enables clients to track and measure social media performance and equity metrics in real-time.
• Vertical KnowledgekeyTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for digital monitoring system capturing sentiment, content, interactions, transactional behavior and trends with real-time reporting and dashboards.
• Knight-Cronkite News LabnotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership for local news innovation studies, including success story research for KGO-TV's Building a Better Bay Area initiative.
• Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public PolicynotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch collaboration on reinventing local news and audience research for younger demographics.
• Hearst TelevisionnotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing research partnership studying local television trust, audience behavior, and news consumption patterns across broadcast and digital platforms.
• ElevatecoreOthersSmithGeiger subsidiary brand focused on ad sales optimization. Delivers 5 core services including brand awareness, discussion panels, creative consulting, brand lift, and media correlation analysis. Operates with its own brand and go-to-market at growwithelevate.com.
• Accelerate SGcoreOthersSmithGeiger affiliated company focused on media growth strategies. Operates at acceleratesg.com with its own team including Founder Aaron Paquette.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• comScore: Cross-platform audience, advertising, and consumer behavior measurement provider serving many of the same broadcast, cable, and digital media clients SmithGeiger serves.
• Nielsen: Largest incumbent in media audience measurement, offering syndicated ratings, panels, and analytics that overlap with — but span well beyond — SmithGeiger's custom media research and consulting practice.
• Ipsos: Global market research firm with deep media, audience, and brand practice that supplies custom research, tracking, and consulting services overlapping with SmithGeiger's offerings.
• GfK (now part of NIQ): Large consumer and media research firm offering custom qualitative and quantitative studies alongside syndicated tracking, comparable in service mix to SmithGeiger's research platform.
• Kantar: Global research and insights firm with a sizable media division providing audience measurement, brand effectiveness, and consulting that competes for the same enterprise media-client wallet.

Emerging players

• Hub Entertainment Research: Niche research firm specializing in consumer behavior across TV, streaming, and video, providing syndicated and custom studies highly comparable to SmithGeiger's media audience work.
• LRW (Material+): Insights and strategy firm combining custom quantitative/qualitative research with brand and content consulting, competing for many of the same consumer-brand and media-mandate budgets as SmithGeiger.
• Embryo / Prohaska Consulting: Boutique digital analytics and research consultancy serving media, agencies, and brands with audience insights and digital measurement comparable to SmithGeiger's digital monitoring and consulting services.

Direct peers

• Frank N. Magid Associates: Direct predecessor and most direct competitor — SmithGeiger's founders previously led the Entertainment Practice at Magid, and the firm operates in the same custom audience research and strategic consulting space for media, cable, and tech clients.
• Edison Research: Custom and syndicated media/consumer research firm known for the Infinite Dial, Share of Ear, and qualitative/quantitative studies, serving broadcasters, networks, and brands in a manner comparable to SmithGeiger.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SmithGeiger
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCbfuxoibkPG1n-2CUlhozyw
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smithgeiger

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles25 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SmithGeiger Group