Sanchez was previously co-founder of specialist social TV analytics agency, The Data Republic, which was acquired by Kantar Media earlier this year.

He will be responsible for the ongoing development of social TV within Kantar Media. It has become a focus for the company following its global partnership with Twitter in 2013, to develop a new suite of tools to support planning and analytics for the TV industry. 

Sanchez, who will be part of Kantar Media Audiences, which specialises in audience research, measurement and targeting, said:  “The social media buzz around TV programmes, or ‘social TV’, is becoming increasingly important to the media industry, but the data generated is only valuable if it is measured and analysed as rigorously as more traditional elements of audience research.  Kantar Media’s focus on this growing business channel puts it at the forefront of the industry.”