Real Revenue Rise for Nielsen

Nielsen has reported constant currency revenue rises of 5.6% for the fourth quarter of 2015 and 5.0% for the year as a whole. Reported revenue dipped 0.6% in Q4 to $1.624bn, and 1.8% for the full year to $6.172bn.

Fourth quarter revenues in the Buy consumer purchase behavior segment rose 5.9% on a constant currency basis (down 3.2% to $879m reported). In developed markets constant currency revenues grew 4.8%, and in emerging markets 8.4%, reflecting 'new client wins, strength in discretionary spend and benefits from investments'.

In the Watch media research business, revenues rose 5.2% on a constant currency basis, with the reported figure up 2.8% to $745m. The firm said that during the period, audience measurement of video and text increased 7.6% on a constant currency basis due to the continued client adoption of its Total Audience Measurement framework, which includes the Digital Ad and Digital Content Ratings offerings. The Audio business decreased 6.9% on a constant currency basis, while the Marketing Effectiveness division grew 31.3% on the same basis. Other Watch offerings saw revenue drop 13.8% on a constant currency basis, as the firm continued to 'run off' certain legacy online rankings products and exit non-core media analytics products.

Overall for the group, on a reported basis, fourth quarter net income increased 60.8% to $254m; Adjusted EBITDA increased 1.3% to $531m; and Adjusted Net Income of $300m was down 2.9%. For full-year 2015, revenues within the Buy segment decreased 5.1% to $3,345m, and increased 2.2% in the Watch segment to$2,827m; group net income increased 50.9% to $575m; Adjusted EBITDA rose 1.1% to $1,858m; and Adjusted Net Income crept up 0.5% to $975m.

CEO Mitch Barns (pictured) comments: '2015 was a banner year for our company with the rollout of Nielsen Total Audience Measurement, new client wins across both our Watch and Buy segments, and the launch of the Nielsen enterprise marketing platform driven by our acquisition of eXelate. In addition, throughout the year we returned over $1bn in cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. We look forward in 2016 with confidence'.

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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