How NielsenIQ is helping marketers plan globally and act locally

A big theme of 2025 for marketers has been connecting an increasingly fragmented and disconnected world of data. NielsenIQ is the latest company to take on the task with a particular focus on driving and measuring business outcomes for CPG and fast moving consumer goods advertisers.

It’s now tying together advanced retail sales data with audience data created by that sales data on a global scale to help marketers supercharge their campaigns. This will allow marketers to plan, buy, activate and measure campaigns with more control and consistency. The move also aims to break down data silos and create a more complete view of campaign outcomes.

“It’s all about creating a consistent framework,” Josh Pisano, NielsenIQ’s global head of product, media, tells The Current. “If you are a large multinational consumer brand, that’s kind of hard to do. A lot of times they’re patchworking how they can target and measure in all of these different markets.”

Advertisers will also be able to geotarget audience segments within The Trade Desk’s platform by location, unlocking the ability to customize campaigns by each specific market with increased precision. Similarly, advertisers will be able to leverage NiQ data for measurement of sales lift via The Trade Desk.

In other words, thinking globally but planning locally.

NielsenIQ sees $7.2 trillion worth of spending data each year across about 100 countries (85% of the world’s population), which it uses to power consistent view.

It’s rolling out its solution first across Western Europe and North America before spreading to other major advertising markets.

Grabbing a fuller picture

Signal loss and data silos have forced advertisers to get creative to see a fuller picture of their potential customer base.

While first-party data has been paramount for years now — with savvy media buyers matching relevant audiences with their own first-party data to bid most effectively on inventory — the trouble is the practicality of activating that data with enough scale, especially for CPG advertisers who typically sell through retailer intermediaries.

Dan Larkman, CEO and founder of Keynes Digital, a CTV focused programmatic agency, says it’s a game changer to make high-quality data easier to use.

“Being able to store or build high intent audiences from every possible source that isn’t the direct retailer adds huge value,” Larkman tells The Current.

All data isn’t created equal

Marketers have to make sure they’re interrogating the quality of the data they’re getting, NielsenIQ’s senior director of marketing, Jonathan Kalsched, says.

He’s concerned with all the aforementioned data challenges, advertisers may go for the seemingly easy solution over the most fully formed one. The allure of cheap reach is pervasive, but quality data wins out in the end.

“What may be convenient may not be most beneficial to your campaign or drive the best results,” Kalsched says.

Connecting data to buying within the many platforms in a company’s tech stack has long been a problem. “The systems and the datasets that power each one of the solutions have always been disconnected,” Pisano says.

Insufficient processes and disconnected systems are, in fact, the first and fourth biggest challenges facing agencies in the U.S., according to a survey from Basis Technologies.

That makes sense given the vast number of marketing vendors the average brand works with. Integrating them is a challenge on its own, let alone making them interoperable. A 2022 survey found that marketers utilize only 42% of their tech stacks, largely due to the size and complexity of the marketing technology landscape.

This challenge is particularly true from a measurement perspective, which has historically had multiple challenges. From consumers bouncing between multiple channels before buying something to multiple players claiming attribution to a lack of transparency from walled gardens — seeing a fuller picture of campaign performance can be difficult. A full-loop, dependable view gives marketers accuracy they can rely on, and this is precisely what NiQ sets out to do.

No matter who gets the credit for a sale, Larkman equates it to a soccer match. He doesn’t care if he scores or assists on a goal, he just wants to be on the field helping.

The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk Inc.