Nielsen laying off 9% of its global workforce

Nielsen is laying off about 9% of its global workforce in an effort to bring costs in line with revenues, the measurement company announced to employees today. 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. Ad Age Media Summit Hear from industry leaders during October event in NYC Register here A spokeswoman declined to disclose the total number of employees but relayed the following statement: “Nielsen announced a very difficult decision to reduce our global workforce by about 9% today in an effort to bring costs in line with our revenues and to ensure the company's financial strength for the future. We will continue to prioritize areas that will drive innovation and the future of cross-media measurement. Nielsen is offering severance pay, outplacement services, and health insurance to make the transition as smooth as possible.” People close to the company had said in recent weeks that layoffs are coming for 30% of Nielsen Audience Measurement’s product development team, aimed at producing overall savings of $200 million annually to offset debt service on the roughly $10 billion in debt taken on to finance taking the company private last year. Nielsen’s spokeswoman described those numbers as “way off,” but declined to disclose company financials. Tracking layoffs and budget cuts How brands and agencies are bracing for a recession Click here 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. Nielsen is also in the process of trying to win Media Rating Council accreditation for the “big data” portion of its new TV and cross-platform measurement, which it has offered as a currency for any traders interested alongside its accredited panel-based measurement. Media measurement blog Tracking TV, social and digital updates Click here

Nielsen laying off 9% of its global workforce

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