Nielsen reported lower third-quarter earnings as it restructured its “buy” segment.
Net income dropped 7% to $132 million, or 36 cents a share, from $142 million, or 38 cents a share, a year ago.
Revenue rose 2.5% to $1.6 billion.
Revenues for Nielsen’s watch segment, which includes its television ratings, were up 6.4% to $761 million. Audience measurement of video and text revenues were up 8.3%. Marketing effectiveness revenues jumped 28%.
In Nielsen’s buy segment, which provides consumer packaged goods makers and retailers with consumer insights and information, revenues were down 0.9% to $809 million.
“Our revenue grew in the third quarter, despite a more challenging environment, highlighting the strength of our balanced portfolio,” said CEO Mitch Barns.
“In the Watch segment, market adoption of Total Audience continues to grow at a healthy clip. Digital Content Ratings are now fully syndicated and the industry is moving forward to a new ratings standard anchored by our Total Audience Measurement system, which is well-positioned to play an important role in the 2017 upfront,” Barns said.
But Barnes added that in Nielsen’s buy segment, “our results in the developed markets were disappointing, particularly in the U.S. Many of our clients are seeking efficiency and productivity in the face of a challenging growth environment. Given these evolving needs, we are realigning our portfolio by exiting non-core services, reallocating resources accelerating our investment in our strategic initiatives to help our clients grow and better position our business for the future.”
Nielsen said that based on third-quarter results, it was updating its 2016 full-year guidance for total revenue growth to between 3.5% to 4% on a constant currency basis and adjusted net income per share to $2.73-$2.79.
