Circana to Acquire NCSolutions and Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling Business

CHICAGO and NEW YORK - August 26, 2024- Circana™, a leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, today announced it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire NCSolutions (NCS), the joint venture between Nielsen and Catalina that improves advertising effectiveness, and Nielsen's Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) business.

With these two acquisitions, Circana will expand its media measurement capabilities while also increasing its marketing mix modeling and unified measurement solutions and footprint. As a result, clients of all three organizations will gain broader access to audience targeting, media measurement, in-flight optimization, and clean room solutions. Additionally, this combination will increase efficiency and offer better products and services to fuel clients' growth via more targeted and impactful advertising.

"We are excited to welcome NCSolutions and Nielsen's Marketing Mix Modeling business to Circana to expand and enhance our media capabilities for our clients," said Kirk Perry, president and chief executive officer of Circana. "Both businesses have incredible expertise, solutions, and clients that, when combined with Circana's data and technology assets, will fuel clients' growth."

"NCSolutions and Nielsen's Marketing Mix Modeling are strong businesses that deliver spectacular value for clients," said Karthik Rao, chief executive officer of Nielsen. "As Nielsen focuses on expanding its leadership position in audience measurement and content data, we're thrilled that the tremendous leadership and passionate teams at NCS and MMM can continue to accelerate their growth through synergies within Circana."

Both businesses eventually will be integrated into Circana's Media team. Circana's Media team works with advertisers and their agencies to plan, target, activate, measure, and optimize media spend. Its media solutions portfolio is built on a robust enterprise technology platform, actionable CPG and general merchandise shopper, sales, and causal data sets, and advanced analytics. The transactions are expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and the completion of any required information and consultation obligations, including any works councils' processes.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Dentons acted as legal advisors to Circana. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as lead financial advisor to Nielsen. Bank of America Securities also acted as a financial advisor. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Baker McKenzie, and DLA Piper acted as legal advisors to Nielsen. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as legal advisor to Catalina.