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Bain Capital and WPP Stand to Gain from the Sale of Kantar Media

Details of the Sale

The company that manages Britain’s television audience measurement system, BARB, is being put up for sale, with private equity backers eyeing a windfall worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Kantar Media, a division of the Kantar market research giant, which employs 25,000 people worldwide, will be auctioned later this year. Industry insiders estimate that Kantar Media could be worth as much as ┬ú1bn. Bain Capital, Kantar’s majority owner, is in the process of appointing investment bankers to oversee the sale process. The remaining 40% stake in Kantar Media is owned by WPP, the FTSE-100 marketing services group. The technology of Kantar Media is used in an additional 24 countries, making it a globally significant player in the production of TV ratings data used by advertisers. Sources revealed that it is also participating in a competitive process to establish a rival service to the audience measurement business of Nielsen, another leading market research group.

Length of BARB Contract

Kantar Media’s current contract with BARB, signed in 2021, runs until 2029, encompassing the bulk of a decade in which consumers’ viewing habits are continuing to shift amid the growth of digital viewing platforms. BARB data is based on a representative panel of 7,000 households, using audience measurement technology called Kantar People Meter 7. The company will collect data on behalf of BARB, equating to more than 163 billion minutes – the equivalent of more than 300,000 years – of playtime annually. Kantar Media also includes a division called TGI, which is an ‘audience-builder’ service for advertisers.

Financial Performance and Leadership

According to results published in November, Kantar Media saw an 8% increase in year-on-year revenues to $353m. The company has become operationally independent of its parent over the last 12 months. Kantar Media is now run by Patrick Behar, a former executive at Sky, the immediate parent company of Sky News. The wider Kantar group, which provides market share data on the UK’s grocery retailing sector, is run by Chris Jansen. It is chaired by Adam Crozier, the former ITV and Royal Mail chief executive. A spokesperson for Kantar declined to comment, while Bain was contacted for comment.