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Nielsen Holdings

Nielsen Holdings plc is an American information, data and market measurement[4] firm. Nielsen operates in over 100 countries and employs approximately 44,000 people worldwide.

Not to be confused with Nielsen Norman Group.

Trade name

The Nielsen Company

NYSE: NLSN

Media

August 24, 1923 (1923-08-24)

David Kenny
(Executive Chairman)
Karthik Rao
(CEO)[1]
Warren Jenson
(CFO)[2]

Increase US$3.5 billion (2021)[3]

Increase US$872 million (2021)[3]

Increase US$963 million (2021)[3]

Decrease US$10.8 billion (2021)[3]

Increase US$3.3 billion (2021)[3]

c. 15,000 (December 2021)[3]

The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and used to be a component of the S&P 500.[4]

History[edit]

Formation[edit]

Nielsen was founded in 1923 by Arthur C. Nielsen, Sr., who invented an approach to measuring competitive sales results that made the concept of "market share" a practical management tool. The company was originally incorporated in the Netherlands and later was purchased on May 24, 2006, by a consortium of private equity firms.[4]

Merger and listing[edit]

In January 2011, Nielsen consummated an initial public offering of common stock and, subsequently, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NLSN".[4] On August 31, 2015, Nielsen N.V., a Dutch public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, merged with Nielsen Holdings plc, by way of a cross-border merger under the European Cross-Border Merger Directive, with Nielsen Holdings plc being the surviving company.[4] The merger effectively changed the place of incorporation of Nielsen's publicly traded parent holding company from the Netherlands to England and Wales, with no changes made to the business being conducted by Nielsen prior to the merger.[4]

2022 buyout[edit]

In March 2022, Nielsen announced that it had accepted a $16 billion offer from a group of private equity investors led by Elliott Investment Management subsidiary Evergreen Coast Capital Corp., and Brookfield Business Partners.[5] The Nielsen board of directors had turned down an initial $9 billion offer from the investment consortium.[5] The transaction was completed in October 2022.[6]

Company history[edit]

Arthur C. Nielsen and the invention of "Market Share"[edit]

Arthur C. Nielsen founded the AC Nielsen Company in August 1923[15][16] with the idea of selling engineering performance surveys. It was the first company to offer market research.[17] The company expanded its business in 1932 by creating a retail index that tracked the flow of food and drug purchases. This was the first retail measurement of its kind and for the first time allowed a company to determine its "share" of the market—the origination of the concept of "market share"[17] Arthur C. Nielsen is credited with coining this business term.

Radio and television[edit]

In 1936, Arthur C. Nielsen acquired the Audimeter, which measured which radio stations a radio had been tuned to during the day. After tinkering with the device for a few years, the company created a national radio rating service in 1942.[18] The company collected information on which stations radios were tuned to in one thousand homes. Then, this survey data was sold to manufacturers who were interested in the popularity of programs and demographic information about listeners for advertising purposes. This was the birth of audience measurement that would become the most well-known part of Nielsen's business when applied to television.[18] Today, these are commonly referred to as "Nielsen ratings".


The company began measuring television audiences in 1950, at a time when the medium was just getting off the ground. Just as with radio, a sampling of homes across the U.S. was used to develop ratings. This information was collected on a device that was attached to a television that recorded what was being watched. In 1953, the company began sending out diaries to a smaller sample of homes ("Nielsen families") within the survey to have them record what they had watched.[17] This data was put together with information from the devices. This combination of data allowed the company to statistically estimate the number of Americans watching TV and the demographic breakdown of viewers.[17] This became an important tool for advertisers and networks.


In the 1980s, the company launched a new measurement device known as the "people meter". The device resembles a remote control with buttons for each individual family member and extras for guests. Viewers push a button to signify when they are in the room and push it again when they leave, even if the TV is still on. This form of measurement was intended to provide a more accurate picture of who was watching and when.[19]


In July 2008,[20] Nielsen released the first in a series of quarterly reports, detailing video and TV usage across the 'three screens' – Television, Internet and Mobile devices. The A2/M2 Three Screen Report also includes trends in timeshifted viewing behavior and its relationship to online video viewing, a demographic breakdown of mobile video viewers and DVR penetration.


On September 30, 2016,[21] Nielsen made its Digital Content Ratings available in full syndication for clients.


On September 9, 2016,[22] Nielsen announced that it would retire its paper TV diaries by mid-2017 and provide all electronic measurement in its local television ratings.

Private equity[edit]

Nielsen was acquired by the Dun & Bradstreet Company in 1984.[23] In 1996, D&B divided the company into two separate companies: Nielsen Media Research, which was responsible for TV ratings, and AC Nielsen, which was responsible for consumer shopping trends and box-office data.[24] In 1999, Nielsen Media Research was acquired by the Dutch publishing company VNU (Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen).[25] VNU later acquired AC Nielsen and recombined the two businesses in 2001. In between, VNU sold off its newspaper properties to Wegener and its consumer magazines to Sanoma. The company's publishing arm also owned several publications including The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard magazine. VNU combined the Nielsen properties with other research and data collection units including BASES, Claritas, HCI and Spectra. VNU also acquired companies that added to its measurement capabilities.

Becoming a public company[edit]

Nielsen was a private company from 2006 through 2011. On January 25, 2011, the company listed itself on the New York Stock Exchange and issued an initial public offering (IPO) that raised $1.8 billion in the largest private equity-backed U.S. IPO since 2006.[26]

Corporate affairs and culture[edit]

FIFA has signed up with Nielsen to provide official market research for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[66]

Nielsen Corporation

Council for Research Excellence

(in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Swedish)

Official website

  • Historical business data for Nielsen Holdings plc:
  • SEC filings

    - Nielsen news blog

    Nielsen Wire

    Nielsen 90 Year Timeline

    SEC

    List of subsidiaries of The Nielsen Company B.V.