NielsenIQ
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Marketing research |
| Founded | 1923 |
| Founder | Arthur C. Nielsen Sr. |
| Headquarters | Chicago , United States |
Area served | Worldwide (over 100 countries) |
| Products | Homescan, National Consumer Panel, Nielsen BookScan, BASES, Brandbank |
Number of employees | 30000 |
| Parent | Advent International |
NIQ—also referred to as NielsenIQ and previously known as ACNielsen—is an international marketing research organization based in Chicago, Illinois. Employing approximately 30,000 professionals, the company operates across more than 100 nations. In 2023, NIQ expanded its portfolio by acquiring the German market research company GfK.
Prior to March 2021, NIQ was a division of Nielsen Holdings. It was later divested to the private equity firm Advent International, prompting a rebranding to NIQ.
Activities
NIQ provides various market research solutions, including the Homescan program, which involves selected households monitoring their grocery and retail purchases alongside demographic data. Homescan is active in countries such as Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US. In the United States, this initiative evolved into the National Consumer Panel following a joint venture with Circana.
Outside the U.S., NIQ operates Nielsen BookScan services and functions as the official ISBN agency for both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
The company delivers marketing and retail research offerings like BASES and Brandbank. Through its subsidiary GfK, NIQ oversees the GfK Entertainment charts in Germany, tracking sales for music, home video, and video games.
Historically, NIQ managed the Nielsen ratings, a system for measuring audiences across television, radio, and newspapers. This service originated after A.C. Nielsen acquired C. E. Hooper in 1950 and introduced electronic data collection techniques. In 1996, this division was separated as Nielsen Media Research, which was then acquired by Dutch conglomerate VNU in 1999. Nielsen Media Research later became part of Nielsen Holdings' Global Media segment before separating from NielsenIQ in 2021.
History
The A.C. Nielsen Company was established in 1923 in Chicago by Arthur C. Nielsen Sr. with the goal of providing marketers with dependable data on the effectiveness of their marketing and sales initiatives. The company’s international presence began in 1939 with an office opening in Oxford, United Kingdom, which continues to serve as NIQ's UK headquarters.
In 1984, the company was purchased by Dun & Bradstreet Company (D&B). Twelve years later, in 1996, D&B divided AC Nielsen into two parts: Nielsen Media Research, focusing on television ratings, and ACNielsen Corporation, specializing in consumer shopping behavior and box-office analytics.
In 2001, ACNielsen was acquired by Dutch firm Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen (VNU), integrating it into VNU’s Marketing Information group alongside NMR, which VNU had obtained in 1999. In 2005, ACNielsen introduced MVP (Media Voice Panel), a novel system that tracked TV and radio exposure through electronic monitors installed in panelists’ homes; this program concluded in 2008.
VNU rebranded itself as the Nielsen Company in 2007. Arthur Charles Nielsen Jr., who had taken ownership from his father, passed away in 2011 at age 92.
To broaden its market research expertise, Nielsen pursued several acquisitions: Affinnova in 2014 to enhance its Innovation Practice; Brandbank in 2015 to digitize FMCG product and brand imagery for retail syndication; and both Rakuten Intelligence (U.S.) and Foxintelligence (Europe) in 2021 to expand e-commerce and omnichannel measurement capabilities.
In early 2021, Nielsen Holdings separated its consumer data and intelligence division into NielsenIQ and sold it to private equity firm Advent International by March of that year.
By 2023, NIQ obtained conditional approval from the European Union for its acquisition of GfK, contingent upon divesting GfK’s consumer panel business to British company YouGov.