<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none;" alt="" src="https://px.ads.linkedin.com/collect/?pid=9151474&amp;fmt=gif">
Skip to content

Alternatives

The best Nielsen MMM alternatives.

Nielsen sold its marketing mix modeling business to Circana, and the deal closed in August 2025. If the change has you comparing options and you are a mid-market advertiser, the strongest alternative is Odins: a managed Bayesian model per market, priors set with your team, every forecast checked against actuals. Odins is ours, so we say it up front. Four more options follow, sorted by who they fit.

Book a demo See the alternatives

Reviewed October 2026 · sources cited on this page

The alternatives

Five alternatives, sorted by fit.

Nielsen's marketing mix modeling now sits inside Circana, built on retail point-of-sale data and offered as self-service or with consultants. These five take a different shape. The best-for lines say which one suits you.

  1. Odins

    Managed Bayesian platform That's us

    Best Nielsen MMM alternative for mid-market advertisers who want the model run for them.

    Odins is a managed marketing investment platform. Where Circana's MMM builds on retail point-of-sale data, Odins is a focused product for the marketing investment decision: one Bayesian model per market, retrained monthly, with a recommendation reviewed by a person. Any sales signal the model can learn from works: orders, applications or leads. Saturation curves, priors and forecast accuracy are open in the platform, and the subscription is sized for mid-market budgets. Disclosure: this is our platform.

    Bayesian MMM · Fully managed · Verified monthly How the managed service works

  2. Analytic Partners

    Enterprise incumbent

    Best for the largest global advertisers running commercial analytics programs.

    A Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant, 25 years into the category. GPS Enterprise pairs software with analyst teams and covers pricing, promotion and halo effects beyond media. Scoped and priced for the largest advertisers.

    Proprietary MMM · Software plus consulting · Enterprise Odins vs Analytic Partners

  3. Kantar LIFT ROI

    Enterprise incumbent

    Best for global enterprises that want effectiveness, brand and creative science in one relationship.

    The largest measurement company's MMM, with brand equity and creative quality folded into the analysis and the Bayesian Hamilton AI engine in the toolkit. A 2025 Gartner Visionary. Delivered as platform plus consulting, with pricing that is not published.

    Mixed methods · Platform plus consulting · Enterprise Odins vs Kantar

  4. Recast

    Advanced specialist

    Best for large, mostly US advertisers with analytics teams and daily data.

    A Bayesian MMM with time-varying parameters, weekly automated refreshes and out-of-sample backtesting. Built for Fortune 500 and large DTC budgets, with enterprise pricing that is not published.

    Bayesian MMM · Managed platform · Weekly refresh Odins vs Recast

  5. Google Meridian

    Open-source framework

    Best free option for teams with data scientists and geo-level data.

    Google's open-source Bayesian framework, with the strongest budget optimizer of the open options. The license is free. You build the data pipelines, set the priors, and run, validate and maintain the model yourself.

    Bayesian framework · Self-hosted · Your team runs it Meridian: build vs buy

Nielsen and Circana facts come from Nielsen's announcement of the sale (August 2024), Circana's completion notice (August 2025) and circana.com, read October 2026. NIQ facts come from NIQ's own announcements (March 2021, October 2024). Other provider facts come from each vendor's public documentation, read September 2026: analyticpartners.com, kantar.com, getrecast.com and Google's Meridian documentation. Open-source assessment per Runge and Pauwels (2026), SSRN 6317979. Odins is our platform.

At a glance

Which alternative for which need.

Start from the size of your budget and who will run the model.

Best fit
Why
A managed model with a monthly recommendation, at mid-market size
Best fitOdins
WhyOne Bayesian model per market, retrained monthly, with priors, curves and forecast accuracy open in the platform
Commercial analytics beyond marketing, at global scale
Best fitAnalytic Partners
WhySoftware plus consulting, with pricing, promotion and halo effects in scope
Effectiveness, brand and creative science together
Best fitKantar LIFT ROI
WhyMMM with brand equity and creative quality in the analysis, as platform plus consulting
Weekly refresh at US enterprise scale
Best fitRecast
WhyTime-varying Bayesian MMM with automated backtesting, built for large budgets and daily data
Full control and no license fee
Best fitGoogle Meridian
WhyOpen-source Bayesian framework that your own data scientists build and run

Sources as listed above. Where a vendor does not state something publicly, we left it out.

When to look elsewhere

Four reasons to look for a Nielsen MMM alternative.

Circana lists more than 100 marketing mix specialists and over 10,000 benchmarks, and for a brand measured on retail sales data it belongs on the shortlist. These are the situations where another option fits better.

  • A change of owner is a natural moment to compare the market
  • Your sales signal is orders, subscriptions or applications, not retail point-of-sale data
  • You want a recommendation every month, with the model open to inspect
  • The price has to fit a mid-market budget
Why Odins

Run for you, open to inspection.

Odins runs the data, the model and the recommendation as one managed service. Forecasts are stored before the actuals arrive, so you can check how the model did.

  • Priors set in 2 to 3 working sessions, from your spend history, digital saturation signals and structured interviews
  • TV, radio, OOH and print in the same model as digital, next to pricing and promotions
  • Monthly retraining, and a recommendation reviewed by a person
  • Scenarios you can run yourself at any time, with a confidence range on every number
  • Companies like CDON, Nettbil, Hyre and Megaflis run their marketing budgets on Odins

Channel contribution, 80% ranges

from the posterior
Search 14 to 16% optimize
Social 9 to 13% optimize
Display 2 to 9% test first

A tight range is a decision. A wide range is a test plan, with cost boundaries.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

What is the best alternative to Nielsen for marketing mix modeling?

It depends on your size and who will run the model. For a managed model with a monthly recommendation at mid-market size, Odins is the alternative we would point to, and yes, it is ours. For a global commercial analytics program, look at Analytic Partners. For effectiveness and brand science in one relationship, Kantar. For US enterprise scale with daily data, Recast. With data scientists in-house, Google Meridian.

Does Nielsen still offer marketing mix modeling?

Not under its own name. Nielsen agreed to sell its marketing mix modeling business to Circana in August 2024, and Circana completed the acquisition in August 2025. Nielsen said it would concentrate on audience measurement. The offer now sits on circana.com, and Nielsen's former MMM page redirects there.

Is NIQ's marketing mix modeling the same as Nielsen's?

No. NIQ (NielsenIQ) has been a separate company from Nielsen since 2021. It launched its own marketing mix modeling and matched market testing in October 2024, built on its store-level sales data. The Nielsen MMM business went to Circana, which is a different company.

What are the best alternatives to Kantar and Nielsen for marketing mix modeling?

They fall into three groups. Managed platforms such as Odins, where data, model and recommendations are run for you. Enterprise specialists such as Analytic Partners and Recast. And open-source frameworks such as Google Meridian, if you have data scientists. We cover Kantar on Kantar MMM alternatives and side by side on Odins vs Kantar.

How is Odins different from Nielsen's marketing mix modeling?

Circana describes the former Nielsen offer as MMM built on its retail and point-of-sale data, available as self-service or with consultants. Odins is one managed service: we connect the data, build one Bayesian model per market, retrain it monthly and send a recommendation that a person has reviewed. What the service covers is on the managed MMM service page.

Do the alternatives include matched market or incrementality testing?

Some do. Odins proposes a structured test when the model is uncertain about a channel, and the result is taken into the model. If testing is your main need, we list options on Measured alternatives.

What does a Nielsen MMM alternative cost?

Circana does not publish pricing for its MMM, and neither do most providers on this list, ours included. Odins is a subscription sized for mid-market budgets, with the team included and no data science hires needed. The open-source frameworks have no license fee and cost staff time instead.

Talk to our team

Marketing spend, modeled like an investment.

A 30-minute walkthrough of the model, the priors and the verification, on your channels.

Book a demo