Impact / Gracenote Content Rise Helps Nielsen Recovery

Nielsen has reported results for the 4th quarter and full year 2021, with annual reported revenue up 4.1% to $3.5bn (up 4.9% like-for-like), and full year adjusted EBITDA up 5.4% (constant currency) to $1.49bn.

Comparisons with 2019 are currently of perhaps more use than those with 2020, badly hit by the economic impact of Covid response in many cases, but in Nielsen's they are complicated by the splitting of the company just over a year ago. In 2020, revenues for the larger group including Connect / now NielsenIQ were down 3.2% to $6.29bn, while for Nielsen Global Media - very similar to the new Nielsen being reported today - full-year revenues decreased 2.3%. The 2021 figure is therefore significantly up on that for 2019.

Nielsen now splits the remainder of its business into two new groups, Measurement and Impact / Content, with the latter including its Impact Marketing Solutions and Gracenote Content Solutions. For the former division, 2021 revenues were $2.545bn, up 4.0% on an organic basis, with national and digital measurement products and local products returning to positive growth; the latter saw revenues of $955m, up 7.5% on an organic constant currency basis, driven the company says by improving trends in short-cycle revenues, solid growth in Content, and recovery in the Sports business.

In Q4 2021, profits declined slightly, with Q4 adjusted EBITDA down 7.6% to $351m. Revenue was $894m, up 4.7% on an organic constant currency basis and split into $647 for Measurement (up 5.2%) and $247m for Impact / Content, up 3.4%.

Nielsen says it is 'on track' to deliver its 'ONE' cross-media measurement solution in 2022 as promised.

CEO David Kenny (pictured) comments: 'We delivered strong results in 2021. We successfully sold Nielsen Global Connect, hit significant product milestones, and exceeded all of our original 2021 guidance metrics despite facing some unanticipated challenges. We are strongly positioned within the media ecosystem, with growing relevance as audiences shift to streaming, and we are delivering value to clients across our three essential solutions. We made measurable progress toward becoming a digital-first company, and our strategy aligns with where growth in the industry is coming from. We are piloting the first iteration of Nielsen ONE, which we launched in January, with a representative group of clients across media buyers and sellers and feedback has been positive'.

For the full year 2022 guidance suggests total revenue growth on a constant currency basis of 3.5% - 4.5% (organic and constant currency 405%); adjusted EBITDA margin of 42.6% - 42.9%; and adjusted earnings per share of $1.81 - $1.91.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .