Ipsos has confirmed it is in talks to acquire Kantar Media.
Kantar Media is the audience measurement division of Kantar, which conducts TV ratings panels for Barb.
A spokesperson for Ipsos said conversations were “currently under way regarding a potential acquisition of Kantar Media”, but that “there can be no certainty that any offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any such offer might be made. There can be no assurance that these discussions will result in any agreement.”
The deal, should one be struck, would value Kantar Media at £1bn, according to a report from Reuters.
Kantar is currently owned by Bain Capital and WPP, the former of which acquired a 60% stake in 2019. At the time of the acquisition, Bain valued the overall Kantar business at £3.2bn.
In Kantar’s 2023 annual earnings report, its media division reported gross revenue of $477.5m — a 7.7% increase from the year before.
Kantar declined to comment.
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The Media Leader has previously reported that, according to a former Kantar executive, such a sale has been on the cards for some time, with CEO Patrick Béhar recruited in September 2023 “to sell the business”.
When asked by The Media Leader in November of that year whether he had discussed a potential sell-off with Kantar chairman Adam Crozier, Béhar said: “As you know, Kantar Media is separating from what I call ‘big Kantar’, which is insights and all the rest. So we have our own board. We’re operating independently.”
An acquisition of Kantar Media would boost Ipsos’ status as a leading media measurement solutions provider in the UK and abroad, as Kantar Media provides audience measurement services in 62 countries.
In the UK, Ipsos already provides measurement for various joint industry currencies, including Pamco (publishing), Rajar (radio) and Route (OOH), as well as consumer data for IPA TouchPoints.
UKOM, the UK body for online audience measurement, appointed Ipsos as the supplier of the UK industry standard for online audience measurement in January 2021. Ipsos Iris aims to measure online behaviour across PC, smartphone and tablet devices.
Furthermore, Ipsos already has a connection with Barb, running its quarterly Establishment Survey that examines subscription VOD usage.
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By purchasing Kantar Media, Ipsos would further consolidate its position in UK TV measurement through ownership of TV ratings data used by Barb.
It would also position itself as a key supplier of audience data for cross-media measurement efforts in the UK and elsewhere.
Kantar Media is the TV audience measurement supplier with the US Association of National Advertisers for its cross-media measurement system Aquila, which is being developed in the model of the UK’s ongoing Origin project, led by Isba.
The Media Leader reported last week that Barb is in ongoing discussions to integrate its audience data into Origin; both Barb and Origin currently use separate Kantar panels for TV audience measurement.
In his interview with The Media Leader, Béhar admitted that he had taken meetings with US broadcasters early in his tenure as CEO of Kantar Media, although he declined to give specific details.
“I think you’re facing a very similar situation that you’re facing in other markets, which is everyone wants to do some things and move the ball forward in terms of cross-media,” he said. “The question is: how you do it? Who do you do it with? And how do you orchestrate all that?
“I think there’s a lot of goodwill and willingness to take things forward. I don’t think the puzzle has quite fitted yet.”
