Nielsen Acquires Multi-Touch Attribution Ad Specialist Visual IQ

Nielsen said it has acquired Visual IQ, a specialist in the “multi-touch attribution” (MTA) advertising model, which has increasing appeal to brands looking to track impressions across multiplying screens.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Nielsen said it will acquire Visual IQ’s MTA software platform, as well as the underpinning data, technology and intellectual property. The acquisition is expected to close in October.

Visual IQ’s assets fit with Nielsen’s push to reassure both buyers and sellers that it is counting each and every ad impression. Anxiety over ad measurement has rippled through the marketplace of late, especially in the $70 billion-plus TV business, which remains dominant but has been looking over its shoulder as digital posts double-digit annual increases in spending.

The company said Visual IQ’s capabilities and products will help marketers to make better decisions about how they spend across channels and target specific segments.

“Our acquisition of Visual IQ strengthens Nielsen’s powerful capabilities in the marketing effectiveness space, bringing speed and granularity at scale to ROI measurement,” said Matt Krepsik, Nielsen’s global head of product leadership for marketing ROI, in a press release. “Visual IQ’s rich history of marketing attribution and digital intelligence combined with Nielsen’s gold-standard marketing effectiveness solutions will provide advertisers, publishers and agencies with a holistic platform that offers the transparency to optimize and improve the return on marketing investments.”

As dollars flow into digital, MTA and a retail store method called marketing mix modeling (MMM) are gaining traction.

“Our mission at Visual IQ has always been to drive marketing effectiveness with algorithmic attribution technology that allows customers to view tactical advertising performance through the lens of key audience segments,” said Manu Mathew, Co-founder and CEO at Visual IQ. “Our team is excited to be joining the Nielsen family as we integrate our capabilities with theirs, and provide increased value to clients and a more powerful combined solution to the industry as a whole.”