Ipsos has taken the Australian financial Review’s Simon Wake as managing director of MediaCT, the division working up the new readership metric for newspapers and magazines.

However, CEO Hugh Amoyal is set to leave his role in August, with a replacement yet to be named.

The group is working with The Readership Works to establish the new metric, with publishers increasingly frustrated with the methodology employed by Roy Morgan’s research.

Wake has spent the last nine years with Fairfax in research roles, most recently as marketing and circulation director of the AFR.

His previous research roles have encompassed ANOP Research Services and Millward Brown.

He said: “The publishing industry is undergoing significant change as it adapts to new audience behaviours.

“Publishers are responding quickly through new developments in printed and digital platforms and our research will provide the most accurate measure of consumer behaviour across these multiple-platforms for publishers and advertisers. There is a new story to tell.”

Amoyal added: “We are delighted to have Simon on board. He will bring a wealth of experience to bear on the development of this new survey and we look forward to bringing new insights to the market in the near future.

“Ipsos MediaCT carries out audience measurement in more than 50 countries around the world and is bringing its unrivalled expertise and experience to this market.”

The Readership Works chairman Tony Hale described the new readership metric as one of the most significant developments in the publishing industry in decades”.