WPP Turmoil May Put Kantar Into Play, Nielsen Most Likely Suitor

The turmoil in the C-suite of WPP could put one of the world’s best research and data organizations -- Kantar -- into play, according to informed speculation from knowledgeable stock-market analysts following the agency and research holding company.

The speculation stems from reports of improprieties by WPP Chairman Martin Sorrell. …

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9 comments about "WPP Turmoil May Put Kantar Into Play, Nielsen Most Likely Suitor".
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  1. B Sass from U of C, April 5, 2018 at 10:31 a.m.

    Why would Nielsen want to buy more of what they have? Makes no sense. 

  2. Joe Mandese from MediaPost Inc., April 5, 2018 at 10:35 a.m.

    @B Sass: Wouldn't be the first time.

    I think it has something to do with dominating a marketplace, constraining competition, gaining market share, and improving margins by leveraging market power and pricing.

  3. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 5, 2018 at 11:51 a.m.

    One possibility, aside from neutralizing Kantar's competition in the compoetitive spending research field, would be Nielsen utilizing RentraK's "big data" set-top-box set usage panel in combination with the Nielsen peoplemeter system to provide  much more "granular" TV ratings which might lead to better advertiser targeting---if more of the time buys were brand by brand operations, not corporate in nature.

  4. Tony Jarvis from Olympic Media Consultancy, April 5, 2018 at 12:48 p.m.

    ".....would no doubt raise anti trust issues."   One would assuredly expect so.  So Joe there should be no doubt whatsoever but in the current political climate who knows.  If this comes to pass Nielsen "trumps" comScore which WPP has 19% of I believe.  Sir Martin is brilliant so let's wait and see.  

  5. Suzanne Sell from Independent replied, April 5, 2018 at 2:57 p.m.

    For huge international market share.

  6. Tom Siebert from BENEVOLENT PROPAGANDA, April 6, 2018 at 6:12 p.m.

    Why did Facebook buy Parse?


    Why did LinkedIn buy Bizo?


    Why did Dropbox buy Mailbox?


    Why.....to shut them down, of course! 

  7. Tom Siebert from BENEVOLENT PROPAGANDA replied, April 6, 2018 at 6:14 p.m.

    Ha! A quick search shows there's website devoted to companies Google's acquired only to shut down them down: https://didgoogleshutdown.com

  8. Mark Nelson from Reef Break Consulting, April 7, 2018 at 2 p.m.

    Nielsen is servicing a lot of debt (still, post their 2006 leveraged buy-out) and their debt was downgraded 15 mos ago when they came back to the market for another $500MM. Also, their stock price has been under pressure. I don't see how they can leverage another $5B for this Kantar asset without selling off other assets. 

  9. Robert Dilworth from DILigent Marketing replied, April 10, 2018 at 4:31 p.m.

    Touché, Ed. If more of the time buys were brand by brand operations,advertisers would be vastly better served. But a corporate buy is so much easier.

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