LONDON: YouGov Plc, the international research and data analytics group, announced the acquisition of Yabble, a New Zealand based company pioneering the use of generative AI to deliver audience insights.

The acquisition will see YouGov acquire Yabble’s technology to power new and valuable insights for clients across the world, while also seeing YouGov’s data become the foundation of Yabble’s industry leading AI platform.

Yabble currently has 13 full-time employees globally and has been developing cutting edge generative AI-powered tools specifically for the research industry since 2019. Its products are trusted by a range of Fortune 500 customers and major international brands, including some of YouGov’s largest clients.

Yabble’s technology is perfectly placed to take advantage of the enormous growth in generative AI in the insights industry. Its platform is built with a series of proprietary algorithms, custom fine-tuned models and complex prompt engineering to deliver the most sophisticated and accurate tools available, creating instant insights for every stage of the market research process. Yabble was also acknowledged by leading industry site Greenbook, in the GRIT Top 50 Most Innovative Supplier list for 2023.

YouGov has been working closely with the Yabble team over the past year on the development and launch of the Group’s first client-facing AI product, YouGov AI Qual Explorer, which has seen positive uptake and feedback from clients. Initially, Yabble’s revolutionary technology will be integrated with YouGov’s core Data Products to accelerate the development of AI-enabled features and set the standard for use of generative AI in market research.

Steve Hatch, YouGov CEO: “Generative AI is transforming the insight landscape and with the acquisition of Yabble, YouGov is strongly positioned to take advantage of this change. Early adopters of Yabble’s pioneering technology include some of the most data-savvy brands. I have seen how powerful the combination of YouGov’s data and Yabble’s technology is, and I am excited for more clients to experience this. This acquisition will transform the way our clients derive insights from YouGov Profiles’ two million datapoints and gain maximum value from YouGov’s unique dataset.

We have been building towards this acquisition over the past six months and we’re excited to welcome Kathryn and Yabble’s team of world leading prompt engineers, machine learning experts and data and analytics professionals to YouGov.”

Kathryn Topp, Yabble Co-Founder and CEO: “The best AI runs on the best quality data and YouGov’s proprietary panel is the gold standard in attitude and opinion data. The combination of Yabble’s cutting-edge AI tools and YouGov’s quality dataset will provide clients with the best, fastest, most effortless insights available.

“But this is just the beginning. Yabble has the largest domain expertise in the space, the most sophisticated technology and algorithms to be able to get at the best answers. When combined with YouGov’s increasing volume of best-in-market behavioural data, it provides a blueprint for the future of what research and insights should be and we look forward to joining the YouGov family.”