- Kantar Group is selling its Kantar Media unit to private-equity firm H.I.G. Capital for roughly $1 billion, in keeping with a press release. The deal, subject to customary closing conditions, is anticipated to be accomplished later this 12 months.
- The acquisition comes as Kantar Media, which operates in over 60 markets, desires to play a bigger role in reshaping the measurement ecosystem through capabilities in areas including audience measurement, data and analytics and media planning and validation.
- Kantar Media chief Patrick Béhar, who joined the group last 12 months from Sky, will keep his current role under H.I.G.’s ownership. Consolidation and dealmaking proceed to trend upward in a marketing industry that’s increasingly focused on performance.
Kantar Group began preparing Kantar Media for operational independence two years ago, with the H.I.G. deal positioned as helping to speed up the unit’s transformation plan and geographic leadership status. Kantar Media is attempting to keep pace with a fast-evolving measurement landscape where cross-channel solutions are in higher demand in addition to the appearance of newer technologies, similar to generative artificial intelligence.
“With H.I.G.’s expertise in scaling businesses and driving performance, we’re more confident than ever in our ability to deliver progressive, data-driven solutions that meet the evolving needs of our growing client base everywhere in the globe,” said Béhar in an announcement.
Kantar Media’s services span data connectivity and data science, audience measurement, cross-platform and cross-media measurement and TV and audience rankings, together with research offerings in areas like sports. TV and streaming measurement have been subject to particularly high levels of disruption as competitors vie to unseat Nielsen’s category dominance.
In addition, Kantar Media has played an lively role in the event of Aquila, a cross-media measurement solution from the Association of National Advertisers, an influential trade organization representing top brand marketers. Kantar Media is involved in constructing a single-source cross-media calibration audience panel within the U.S. for Aquila, which was announced last 12 months as an effort to bridge linear and non-linear promoting measurement.
Marketing M&A activity could further increase in what’s expected to be a light-touch regulatory environment, at the least within the U.S. Omnicom Group last month acquired Interpublic Group of Companies for $13 billion, a deal set to reshape the agency sector. Consolidation has already taken hold elsewhere: Publicis Groupe earlier this month announced plans for an internal combination of creative agencies Publicis Worldwide and Leo Burnett to form a brand new brand called Leo.
Bain bought a controlling stake in Kantar in 2019 for $3.1 billion while WPP retains 40% ownership of the business. Kantar previously sold its ad-intelligence unit Vivvix to MediaRadar in 2023. Other firms in H.I.G.’s portfolio include AdTheorent and Adscape Media.
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