Economic Development

Nielsen, Catalina form marketing venture

By Lisa Bernard-Kuhn • lbernard@enquirer.com

Nielsen, the media and consumer information company, has formed a media marketing joint venture that will be headquartered in downtown Cincinnati at the 525 Vine Street building.

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The Nielsen Co. said Monday that it’s teaming with St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Catalina Marketing Corp. in a 50-50 joint venture aimed at helping media firms more effectively track consumer buying behavior in relation to the marketing programs they are exposed to on TV and online.

The new firm, named Nielsen Catalina Ventures is launching with roughly 20 employees at its Cincinnati offices, said Mike Nazzaro, a former Nielsen and Procter & Gamble executive, who will lead the venture as its chief executive officer. The firm will also work with offices in New York, Chicago and Tampa.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The company will integrate information from Nielsen’s TV, Internet and household purchase panels, with data from more than 50 million shoppers from a cross-section of retailers in Catalina Marketing’s network.

By directly and anonymously linking consumers’ television and online usage with in-store purchase behavior, Nielsen Catalina Ventures says it expects to help marketers and media companies better understand how well media campaigns are driving actual consumer buying behavior.

The new firm will launch its first “precision media solutions” in the first half of 2010.

Headquartered in New York, Nielsen is a global information and media firm offering marketing and consumer information and television and other media measurements. It also offers business publications including Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Adweek. The privately held company is active in approximately 100 countries.

Catalina Marketing owns and operates Pointer Media Network, which includes a database of 250 million weekly shopping transactions with direct-to-consumer communication opportunities. Its media distribution channels include 23,000 mass, drug and grocery locations, as well as 17,000 pharmacies facilitating engagement with 125 million patients.

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