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Nielsen is laying of about 9% of its workforce

“Nielsen is laying off about 9% of its global workforce in an effort to bring costs in line with revenues,” Ad Age’s Jack Neff reports.

The details: “The company, taken private last year by a private equity group led by Elliott Investment Management and Brookfield Business Partners, had about 15,000 employees worldwide and 6,200 in the U.S. the last time it filed an annual report as a public company in early 2022. So, while Nielsen had a smaller layoff earlier this year that affected its radio measurement business among others, the new round appears likely to affect well over 1,000 employees.”

Essential context: “The layoffs come as Nielsen is embroiled in more heated competition in U.S. TV and cross-platform media measurement than it historically has, with competitors led by Comscore, iSpot.tv and VideoAmp, the latter of which announced layoffs of its own last September,” Neff notes.

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Also read: Nielsen won’t force Amazon’s data into ‘Thursday Night Football’ ad deals this year

Macroeconomic news and data in a nutshell

• “US jobless claims hit lowest level since February; productivity strongest in years,” Reuters reports

• “Inflation Is Falling. Don’t Thank the Fed,” per Barron’s

• “Economists challenge maxim: For inflation to go down, unemployment needs to go up,” from NPR’s Planet Money

ICYMI: US ad employment gained 2,900 jobs in August, strongest growth in a year

Also see: Layoffs and budget cuts—tracking economic moves and news

Parents are growing more skeptical of brand intentions

“Most parents believe brands care more about collecting their data than giving them a good experience with the brand, according to a new study from McCann Worldgroup,” Ad Age’s Maia Vines reports.

The details: “That finding is part of McCann’s ‘Truth About Modern Families’ survey conducted among more than 55,000 people in 28 markets, including group discussions in the U.S., U.K., France and China,” Vines notes. “Eighty-one percent of parents surveyed said brands care more about their data than their experience; and 66% of parents say when it comes to making good parenting decisions, there is too much conflicting information out there. That marks an increase from 53% in 2015.”

Essential context: “The study is considered a follow-up to one conducted eight years ago that centered solely on mothers,” Vines adds. “Unlike that study, the current iteration included families without children, recognizing the so-called child-free-by-choice movement.”

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The Media Ratings Council wants to take a closer look at YouTube data

“YouTube’s plan to trade on its own co-viewing data starting in January, along with recent reports alleging the video giant misdirects advertiser money to low-quality partner sites on the open web, is prompting the Media Rating Council to want a closer look at the Google platform,” Ad Age’s Jack Neff reports.

The details: “The MRC wants to audit YouTube’s first-party data on how many people are watching its videos on the big screen,” Neff notes, “as well as step up audits of how Google Video Partners and other platform’s extended partner networks perform in the wake of recent news, said MRC CEO George Ivie.”

Essential context: “As of last week, Ivie said YouTube had not yet agreed to an MRC audit of its first-party, survey-based measurement of connected TV co-viewing,” Neff adds. “But a spokeswoman for the Google platform said later in a statement, ‘We are committed to working with both third parties and the MRC on accrediting their solutions as well as our first-party metrics, including co-viewing.’”

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Just briefly

• “Carmakers can collect—and sell—too much data about you, watchdog says,” per The Washington Post

• “The Problem With Economic Data Is Getting Worse,” from The Wall Street Journal

• “GNC partners with wellness product data analysis platform,” per Chain Store Age

• “Facebook Trains Its AI on Your Data. Opting Out May Be Futile,” from Wired

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Ad Age Datacenter is Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson and Joy R. Lee.