Nielsen

Global market leader in audience measurement and media ratings; the de facto currency for TV and audio advertising transactions in the US and numerous international markets

Founded in 1923, Nielsen is the global standard for audience measurement and media analytics, serving broadcasters, streaming platforms, advertisers, agencies, and publishers across television, radio, digital, and streaming channels. Its flagship ratings products — including Nielsen TV ratings and Nielsen Audio — are the currency by which media is bought and sold in the United States and many international markets. Nielsen's data underpins billions of dollars in advertising transactions annually, making it one of the most consequential companies in the media and advertising ecosystem. Nielsen's product portfolio spans audience measurement (tracking who watches, listens to, and streams content), advertising effectiveness (measuring whether campaigns reach intended audiences and drive outcomes), and consumer intelligence (retail measurement and purchase behavior analytics). Its Nielsen ONE cross-media measurement platform represents the company's strategic push to provide a unified, deduplicated view of audiences across linear TV, streaming, digital, and social — a critical capability as media consumption fragments across platforms. In 2022, Nielsen was taken private in a $16 billion transaction led by a consortium including Evergreen Coast Capital (an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management) and Brookfield Asset Management, ending its run as a publicly traded company. Operating under financial ownership, Nielsen continues to invest in modernizing its measurement infrastructure, expanding its streaming measurement capabilities, and defending its position as the industry's trusted third-party measurement standard against challengers such as Comscore, VideoAmp, and iSpot.tv.