UK pollster YouGov names Kantar executive Wayne Levings as next CEO

Aug 6 (Reuters) - British polling firm YouGov said on Thursday that Wayne Levings, a senior executive at peer Kantar, will succeed co-founder Stephan Shakespeare as chief executive next year.

Here are more details:

• Levings will join YouGov, which provides brand-tracking and marketing campaign analytics, as CEO-designate on November 1 and assume the chief's role in February 2027.

• He is currently Kantar's global chief client officer and CEO Americas, and has previously led the company's Asia Pacific, North America and Kantar Retail businesses since joining those leadership ranks in 2009.

• Separately, YouGov retained its annual forecast of a low-single-digit revenue growth.

• The company had agreed to amended terms for its loan facility, giving it more flexibility to carry on the strategic review of its Shopper division, launched in March.

• YouGov is contending with a slowdown in advertising spending as companies reassess budgets due to the growing adoption of AI tools.

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)