GfK Nielsen Partnership Heralds New Chapter

Nielsen and GfK have announced a partnership for future co-operation within the book sector, with the aim of helping clients identify multinational trends and giving them more detail on market developments.

This agreement was announced to coincide with the Frankfurt Book Fair, and brings together two of the book world's key information providers. Nielsen's industry-specific information from the USA and UK, in particular, will be integrated into GfK's databases and provided to customers via connected web tools.

GfK Entertainment MD Dr. Mathias Giloth calls the partnership 'a crucial foundation' for 'providing a better overview of an increasingly internationalized market environment'. He elaborates: 'Which books from the UK might become bestsellers in Germany? What kind of hype is sweeping across the USA? The global success of titles such as 'Girl on the Train' or 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' is causing the industry to ask these types of questions, because the book trade is changing.

Jonathan Stolper, SVP and Global Managing Director of Nielsen Book, comments: 'Having operated independently for many years, it is very exciting to be working with GfK... Our aim is to deliver market data that our clients need to fulfil their business requirements, wherever they are based. We anticipate that including the Anglo-American market data in the GfK modules will be the first step of a long-term collaboration between Nielsen and GfK in the field of book research'.

GfK Entertainment provides market research products and charts for clients including publishing companies, music labels, distributors and retailers, in more than 30 countries. Nielsen acquired the PubTrack family of business Intelligence and commerce solutions products in 2013, and employs 100 staff in its Nielsen Book subsidiary in the UK. Six months ago, it announced a partnership with Chinese retail tracking service Openbook, giving clients in the English language book markets in the US and UK a better understanding of the market in China, and vice versa.

Web sites: www.nielsenbook.co.uk and www.gfk.com .