NielsenIQ

American marketing research firm

Nielsen Consumer LLC

Trade name

| NIQ
Formerly|

* ACNielsen
* AC Nielsen

Company type| Private
Industry| Marketing research
Founded| 1923; 101 years ago (1923) in Chicago, Illinois
Founder| Arthur C. Nielsen Sr.
Headquarters| Chicago, Illinois, United States
Owner| Advent International

Number of employees

| c. 30,000
Subsidiaries| GfK
Website| nielseniq.com

NIQ (also known as NielsenIQ) formerly known as ACNielsen or AC Nielsen, is a global marketing research firm, with worldwide headquarters in Chicago, United States. The company has approximately 30,000 employees and operates in more than 100 countries.[1]

Until March 2021, it was a part of Nielsen Holdings. Nielsen Holdings divested its consumer intelligence (by then known as NielsenIQ) business to private equity firm Advent International. The business later rebranded to NIQ.

This company was founded in 1923 in Chicago by Arthur C. Nielsen Sr. in order to give marketers reliable and objective information on the impact of marketing and sales programs.[2] ACNielsen began expanding internationally in 1939. NIQ acquired German market research firm GfK in 2023.

## Activities

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A market research tool is the Homescan program where sample members track and report all grocery and retail purchases, allowing purchasing patterns to be related to household demographics. Homescan covers several countries including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 2004, ACNielsen chose the CipherLab CPT-8001 as its data collection terminal for the Homescan program throughout Asia.[3] The Homescan program is now known as National Consumer Panel (after formation of a joint venture with Circana) in the United States.

NIQ also manage the Nielsen BookScan services outside the United States.[4] The company acts as ISBN agency for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.[5]

In Germany, NIQ gained reputation for their introduction of the Nielsen areas (or Nielsengebiete in German), each of which includes one or more German federal states sharing a similar economic structure, culture, and consumer behavior. Marketing strategies in Germany depend considerably on the Nielsengebiete, to the extent that some trademarks or marketing campaigns have only been introduced in some of the Nielsengebiete. In many newspapers and magazines disseminated nationwide, advertisements may be placed for just one or some Nielsengebiete; the circulation figures of print media are often stated according to Nielsengebiete as well. [citation needed]

A former service was the Nielsen ratings, an audience measurement system that measures television, radio and newspaper audiences in their respective media markets. In 1950, they acquired the C. E. Hooper company and began attaching recording devices to a statistical sample of about 1200 consumer television sets in the United States.[6] These devices used photographic film in mail-in cartridges to record the channels viewed by the consumer and thus determine audience size. Later, Nielsen developed electronic methods of data collection and transmission. In 1996, they split off this part of its operations into a separate company called Nielsen Media Research (NMR), which operated as an independent company until it was acquired by Dutch conglomerate VNU in 1999. The company was headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut before the acquisition by VNU. The Nielsen Media Research later evolved into Global Media division of Nielsen Holdings and separated from Global Connect division (known as NielsenIQ) in 2021.

## Mergers and acquisitions

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AC Nielsen Company was acquired by the Dun & Bradstreet Company (D&B) in 1984.[7] In 1996, D&B divided the company into two separate companies: Nielsen Media Research, which was responsible for TV ratings, and ACNielsen Corporation, which was responsible for consumer shopping trends and box-office data.[8]

In 2001, ACNielsen Corporation itself was acquired by Dutch company Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen (VNU), as part of VNU's Marketing Information group, and came under the same corporate umbrella as NMR, the company it spawned (VNU acquired NMR in 1999).

In 2005, ACNielsen initiated their MVP (Media Voice Panel) program. Panel members carry an electronic monitor that detects the digital station and program identification codes hidden within the TV and radio broadcasts they are exposed to. At night, members place the monitor in a cradle that sends the collected data through the home's electrical wiring to a relay device that transmits it by phone, making it one of the first practical uses of electrical wiring as a home network. With an approximately one week notice to members, the MVP program ended on March 17, 2008.

In 2007, the owner VNU changed its name to "The Nielsen Company".

Arthur Charles Nielsen Jr. (born April 8, 1919)[9] the man who acquired the company from his father, died at the age of 92 on October 3, 2011.[9]

Nielsen Holdings spun off its consumer data and intelligence business (the former ACNielsen part) as NielsenIQ in January 2021 and then sold the business to private equity firm Advent International in March 2021.[10][11]

NIQ gained approval from the European Union to acquire GfK after an antitrust investigation that began in June 2023. This approval was given under the condition of selling GfK consumer panel business, which went to the British market research company YouGov in July 2023.[12][13]

## See also

[edit]

* Nielsen Holdings

## References

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1. ^ Miller, Ben (September 20, 2020). "Nielsen picks Chicago for its global consumer business headquarters". Chicago Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
2. ^ "Our History". NIQ. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
3. ^ "CPT-8001 Preferred Terminal For AC Nielsen (Asia Pacific)" IT Reseller Online, October 28, 2004
4. ^ "Nielsen Book UK". Nielsen BookData. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
5. ^ "Nielsen UK ISBN Store". Nielsen BookData. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
6. ^ "Milestones, Jun. 16, 1980". June 16, 1980. Archived from the original on March 24, 2007 - via Time.
7. ^ "Learn about the company history of D&B and where we are today at DNB.com". Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
8. ^ Deogun, Nikhil (December 18, 2000). "VNU Could Pay up to $2.6 Billion For Purchase of ACNielsen Corp. - WSJ". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
9. ^ a b "A.C. Nielsen Jr., Who Built Ratings Firm, Dies at 92". New York Times. October 4, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
10. ^ "Nielsen Global Consumer Business Rebranding as NielsenIQ". Consumer Goods Technology. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
11. ^ "Nielsen Announces Completion of Sale Of Global Connect Business to Advent International". Nielsen Holdings. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
12. ^ Chee, Foo Yun (July 5, 2023). "Advent's NielsenIQ gains conditional EU nod for GfK acquisition". Reuters. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
13. ^ Chee, Foo Yun (June 28, 2023). "Exclusive: NielsenIQ's GfK deal set for conditional EU antitrust approval". Reuters. Retrieved November 4, 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Nielsen Holdings

Units|

* Gracenote
* Nielsen Audio
* Nielsen Media Research

Former services and units|

* NielsenIQ
* National Consumer Panel
* Nielsen BookScan (outside the United States)
* Nielsen Business Media
* Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems
* Nielsen SoundScan
* Nielsen VideoScan

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

Other|

* IdRef

*[c.]: circa
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