Bidders circle £1bn sale of TV ratings firm Kantar Media

Private equity firms are vying to buy the company that produces TV ratings data in a £1 billion deal that could generate a windfall for the FTSE 100 advertising giant WPP.
Cinven — the buyout firm that owns the footwear brand Kurt Geiger — and London-based Triton Partners are among those that have bid for Kantar Media, which is best known for collecting Barb data, the TV industry’s go-to source for measuring audiences.
The auction of Kantar Media, which provides analyses of print, radio, TV, internet, cinema, mobile, social and outdoor media, is expected to pave the way for a multibillion-pound sale of the wider Kantar Group, a market research company that is jointly owned by WPP Group, the world’s biggest advertising company, and private equity firm Bain Capital, which is driving the sale process.
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Kantar Group measures consumer behaviour and provides brand consultancy services. It started out in 1992 as the market research division of WPP, when it was helmed by Sir Martin Sorrell. The group employs 25,000 people globally, 4,000 of whom are in the media division.
In 2019, WPP sold a 60 per cent stake in Kantar Group to Bain Capital in a deal that valued the company at £3.2 billion. Kantar is no longer a core asset for WPP. Chief executive Mark Read is focusing on improving WPP’s services with the use of artificial intelligence.
In 2021, Kantar Media won an eight-year contract to measure the audience numbers for Barb Audiences (Broadcasters Audience Research Board). Kantar media produces TV ratings data for 62 countries. In the UK, Barb’s data is based on the viewing habits of 7,000 households across the country.
Kantar Media’s chief executive, Patrick Behar, joined last year from Sky, where he was the chief business officer for the UK and Europe.