US information, data and market measurement firm Nielsen, best known for media insights and analytics, is to close its Israel office, "Globes" has learned. Nielsen Israel is part of the firm's research and development division, and a source close to the matter has told "Globes" that its activities are being transferred to India.
Nielsen is best known for "Rating Nielsen," an audience measurement system for television viewership, which over the years has become the decisive factor on whether a TV show should be cancelled or extended. The company was founded in 1923 to measure competitive sales and in 1999 was acquired by the VNU conglomerate. In 2007 the company was reorganized and changed its name to Nielsen and in 2022 it was acquired by a consortium of private investors for $16 billion, according to Yahoo! Finance.
The company entered Israel in 2015 when it acquired local startup eXelate, which had developed a platform to analyze data on website users to make Internet advertising more focused and effective. Nielsen paid $200 million for eXelate. In 2017 Nielsen acquired Israeli startup vBrand, which measures the value and impact of sports sponsorship campaigns, which was added to the development center.
Last September, it was reported that the company planned to cut its workforce worldwide by 9% as part of efforts to balance expenditure and revenue and "to ensure the strength of the company in the future", according to Yahoo! Finance.
The company operates in dozens of countries, and had over 17,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2022, with dozens of employees in Israel, according to LinkedIn.
Industry sources have told "Globes" that despite cuts in the Israeli workforce and despite plans to move development to India, there are no plans to completely halt the company's operations in Israel.
No response from the company has been forthcoming.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 22, 2024.
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