NIELSEN HOLDINGS

N.V.
AMERICAN GLOBAL INFORMATION AND MEASUREMENT
COMPANY

INTRODUCTION
Headquarters - New York (USA) and Diemen, the Netherlands
Type Public
Founded - 1923
Industry - Media
Chairman - David Calhoun
CEO - Mitch Barns
Products - Consumer information, Consumer research, Market measurement
Revenue - $5.7 billion (2013)
Net income - $736 million (2013)
Employees - 40,000 (2013)
Presence - Approx. 100 countries

INTRODUCTION
Nielsen is a leading global information and measurement company that enables
companies to understand consumers and consumer behavior. Nielsen measures
and monitors what consumers watch (programming, advertising) and what
consumers buy (categories, brands, products) on a global and local basis.
While the Nielsen brand is most often associated with television ratings, those TV
ratings services comprise approximately one-quarter of the company's business
and revenues. After substantial work to simplify the company over the last several
years, Nielsen today aligns their business into two divisions: What Consumers Buy
and What Consumers Watch.

WHAT CONSUMERS BUY

Nielsen's Buy division (approx. two-thirds of global revenues) primarily helps packaged
goods companies and retailers (and Wall Street analysts) understand what consumers are
buying in terms of categories, brands and products.
For example, it is Nielsen's data that measures how much Diet Coke vs. Diet Pepsi is sold
in stores, or how much Crest versus Colgate toothpaste is sold.
They accomplish this by purchasing and analyzing huge amounts of retail data that
measures what is being sold in the store, and they combine it with household panel data
that captures everything that is brought into the home.
They also can provide insights into how changes in product offerings, pricing or marketing
would change sales.
Major clients include The Coca-Cola Company, Nestle S.A., The Procter & Gamble
Company, Unilever Group and Walmart.

WHAT CONSUMERS WATCH

Nielsen's Watch division (approx. one-third of global revenues) primarily measures
what consumers are watching (and listening to) across all devices: TV, radio,
computers, mobile/smartphones, tablets, etc.
The company measures consumption of programming and advertising across all
distribution points.
Nielsen's ratings are used by advertisers and networks to shape the buying and
selling of advertising.
Major clients include CBS, NBC Universal, News Corporation and The Walt Disney
Company.

ARTHUR C. NIELSEN AND THE INVENTION

OF MARKET SHARE
Arthur C. Nielsen founded the AC Nielsen Company in 1923 with the idea of selling
engineering performance surveys.
It was the first company to offer market research.
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
marketthe origination of the concept of market share. Arthur C. Nielsen is
credited with coining this business term.

MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS, STRATEGIC

ALLIANCES AND DIVESTITURES
1984 - Nielsen was acquired by the Dun & Bradstreet Company
1996 - D&B divided the company into two separate companies

Nielsen Media Research: Responsible for TV ratings

AC Nielsen: Responsible for consumer shopping trends and box-office data

1999 - Nielsen Media Research was acquired by the Dutch publishing company VNU
2001 - VNU acquired AC Nielsen and recombined the two businesses. 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.
2006 - VNU acquired a majority stake in Buzzmetrics (measures consumer-generated media online)
2007 - Nielsen acquired Telephia (measures mobile media), and Bilesim Medya (a Turkish advertising intelligence
firm). VNU was renamed as The Nielsen Company.
2008 - Nielsen acquired IAG Research (measures viewer engagement with TV commercials)
2009 - Nielsen acquired The Cambridge Group (a management consulting firm headquartered in Chicago)
2010 - Nielsen paired with McKinsey & Company to create the social media consulting company NM Incite
2011 - Nielsen acquired NeuroFocus (a California firm applying neuroscience brainwave techniques for consumer
research), and Marketing Analytics, Inc. (to strengthen Nielsen's marketing ROI and marketing mix capabilities)
2012 - Nielsen acquired the advertising tech company Vizu to better analyze the effectiveness of online
advertisement