Nielsen Q3 Revenue Recovers Lost Ground

Nielsen has reported a 5.5% increase in third quarter revenue to $882m (up 6.6% in organic terms). The figure is about 1% ahead of 2019 Q3 revenues for Nielsen Global Media, although comparisons are difficult after the company split and the sale of the Connect / NielsenIQ business.

A year ago the Global Media division reported revenue down 4.2% (constant currency) to $836m. The latest results follow the Q4 2020 sale of the Connect consumer business, now known as NielsenIQ, and relate to Nielsen's continuing operations - broadly but not entirely similar to Global Media. Non-GAAP metrics in the latest report have been adjusted to show comparisons as if the sale of Global Connect and resulting 'de-levering' occurred on January 1st 2020.

For the period ended September 30th 2021, Audience Measurement revenues increased 3.9% to $637m on a reported basis (up 4.4% in organic terms), compared with Q3 2020. Outcomes & Content revenues were $245m, up 9.9% on a reported basis and 12.5% on an organic basis. According to the firm, the latter division's results were driven in part by 'improving trends' in short-cycle revenue, 'solid growth' in Content, and 'recovery' in the Sports business.

Overall for the group adjusted EBITDA was $382m, compared with $374m in the third quarter of 2020, up 2.1% on a reported basis and 1.9% in constant currency terms. The firm said that - as expected - adjusted EBITDA margin of 43.3% decreased 143 basis points compared with the prior year period, reflecting the return of the temporary costs savings realized in 2020 in response to the pandemic and investments in growth initiatives.

CEO David Kenny (pictured) commented: 'We are pleased with our strong third quarter results, building on our track record of execution and demonstrating continued progress on our strategic growth plan. We are making strong progress advancing the development of Nielsen One, our cross-media measurement solution, to provide the market with comparable metrics across streaming and TV. We believe that Nielsen is the only company positioned to deliver effectively on the promise of representative, currency-grade cross-platform measurement that is essential to the industry'.

The company has updated its 2021 full-year guidance, anticipating that total revenue growth on a constant currency basis will be 3.0% to 3.25% (previously 2.5% to 3.0%).

Web site: www.nielsen.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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