- Enterprise40
- Aug 21
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 24
CHICAGO and NEW YORK – Aug. 21, 2025 – Circana, LLC announced the successful completion of its acquisition of Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) business. MMM specializes in advanced statistical modeling that helps brands understand the true incremental impact of their marketing investments across all channels and touchpoints. This acquisition significantly expands Circana's global footprint in marketing analytics while deepening its modeling and measurement capabilities.
This follows the completion of the acquisition of NCSolutions (NCS) in June 2025, further strengthening the company's comprehensive media measurement ecosystem.
“The acquisition of MMM, alongside other meaningful investments in our media business, underscore Circana’s commitment to create the industry’s leading media measurement business,” said Stuart Aitken, president and chief executive officer of Circana. “Marketing mix modeling is fundamental to understanding true marketing effectiveness, and MMM's sophisticated analytics – combined with our existing assets – are expected to provide unparalleled insights into optimizing our clients’ marketing investments across every channel. We look forward to leveraging the full extent of MMM's talent, comprehensive data assets and proven methodologies to help clients around the world maximize their return on marketing investment.”
MMM will be integrated into Circana's Media team alongside the recently acquired NCSolutions (NCS). The combined capabilities create a comprehensive measurement platform that addresses everything from media planning and targeting to in-flight optimization and post-campaign analysis. The integrated Circana Media team is led by Cara Pratt, president of Global Retail and Media.
“With MMM now joining our Media team alongside NCS, we believe we have one of the industry's most complete measurement solutions – from granular campaign measurement to holistic marketing mix optimization,” said Pratt. “This combination gives our clients the ability to understand not just what happened, but why it happened and how to optimize future investments for maximum impact.”
"As we focus on our own portfolio, we believe Circana is the ideal owner for the NCS and MMM businesses," said Karthik Rao, chief executive officer of Nielsen. “These best-in-class assets and teams can now unlock immense opportunity for customers as part of a fast-growing data, science, and technology powerhouse on the leading edge of the industry. We are eager to see these businesses and our people flourish at Circana."
The Power of Three Companies:
The Future of Media Starts Here
Circana is transforming media effectiveness through the combined power of two acquisitions (NCSolutions and MMM). Together, we deliver a unified view of audiences, activation, and accountability.

Unmatched Coverage
Across 500+ retailers, 40 countries, and 1B consumer touchpoints, Circana gives you an accurate and complete view of your media performance you can trust, from shelf to screen. If you’re not working with us, you might be missing out on the next big opportunity.

Sharper Precision and Prediction
By uniting Circana’s retail data, NCSolutions’ insights, and MMM’s predictive modeling, we help the media industry forecast outcomes before spend goes live. AI-ready data and machine learning power real-time recommendations that move you from hindsight to foresight.

Future-Ready Measurement
We now offer the most complete marketing mix solution suite available that blends proven benchmarks with real-time optimization. You can simulate ROI, adjust campaigns in flight, and compare performance globally. If your measurement can’t move as fast as your media, it’s time to catch up.
About Circana
Circana is a leader in providing technology, AI, and data to fast-moving consumer packaged goods companies, durables manufacturers, and retailers seeking to optimize their businesses. Circana’s predictive analytics and technology empower clients to measure their market share, understand the underlying consumer behavior driving it, and accelerate their growth. Circana’s Liquid Data® technology platform is powered by an expansive, high-quality data set, and intelligent algorithms trained on six decades of domain expertise. With Circana, clients can take immediate action to future-proof and evolve their growth strategies amid an increasingly complex, fast-paced, and ever-changing economy. Learn more at www.circana.com.
About Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling
Nielsen Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) enables customers to assess the impact of their investments, understand what’s working, and optimize marketing budgets accordingly. It provides critical marketing ROI insights using industry-leading performance models for data coverage and granularity, to help our clients make current and future marketing decisions with confidence.
About Nielsen
Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences—now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).
Circana Media Contact
Shelley Hughes
Email: shelley.hughes@circana.com
312-731-1782


























