Anil Goel, Chief Know-how Officer at Nielsen, stated the transition displays a broader shift within the firm’s identification—from a standard knowledge and analytics agency to a extra technology-led media firm.
Nielsen’s early operations in India have been formed by acquisitions corresponding to Repucom, a sports activities analysis agency in Bengaluru, and a Gracenote-affiliated firm in Mumbai. These introduced in round 2,000 workers, largely targeted on help and analytics features.
This started to vary in 2024, when Nielsen added 3,000 new roles in India, primarily in know-how, product, and knowledge science. The corporate now employs almost 5,000 individuals in India, with about half engaged on innovation-related features.
“So beforehand, groups in India primarily supported merchandise led by the US or Europe, dealing with solely elements of them, whereas most workers labored in different features. At the moment, many product, innovation, and analysis selections are pushed from India—although we nonetheless preserve robust innovation hubs within the US, Europe, and elsewhere,” Goel stated.
The shift to a GIC mannequin is being pushed by each strategic intent and native alternative. Goel famous that India provides a deep expertise pool—akin to Silicon Valley—and the power to scale operations successfully.He additionally highlighted India’s variety—throughout languages, cell gadgets, and bandwidth—as a key benefit for product testing.“India presents a singular alternative due to its variety—in languages, cell gadgets, and bandwidth—which is bigger than in most nations. So, when merchandise are developed and examined in India first, they have an inclination to carry out exceptionally nicely globally,” he added.
Nielsen is presently creating digital measurement tools, AI-powered insights, and big data platforms out of India—lots of that are designed to be used in international markets.
This transformation aligns with wider business developments. As audiences transfer from conventional tv to streaming and cell platforms, media measurement has develop into considerably extra advanced.
Nielsen now processes over 100 terabytes of knowledge day by day, utilizing AI and machine studying fashions to analyse and forecast viewers behaviour throughout fragmented platforms.
India has develop into a key contributor to this innovation drive. Native groups are concerned in areas corresponding to sound engineering, Computerized Content material Recognition (ACR), synthetic intelligence, giant language fashions (LLMs), and cross-platform audience tracking by merchandise like Nielsen One.
To help this shift, Nielsen has expanded its places of work in Bengaluru and Mumbai, the place nearly all of its 5,000 workers are based mostly. It additionally operates satellite tv for pc tech hubs in Gurugram and Hyderabad.
In 2025, the corporate plans to recruit an additional 1,000 individuals in India, specializing in engineering, AI, knowledge science, and {hardware} or firmware growth.
“We’re competing for expertise with among the largest tech manufacturers,” Goel stated. “However we provide work with actual impression on the worldwide media panorama.”
Wanting forward, Nielsen plans to take a position additional in AI, predictive analytics, and media planning instruments to assist advertisers and content material creators make sooner, data-driven selections.
The corporate can also be open to acquisitions in rising areas corresponding to retail media, the creator economic system, and in-game promoting.
“We’re not only a technology-enabled firm,” stated Goel. “At the moment, know-how is on the core of who we’re.”
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