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Odins vs Nielsen

Nielsen sold its marketing mix modeling business to Circana, and the deal closed on 21 August 2025. So a buyer searching for Nielsen MMM today is really looking at Circana's offer, while NIQ, a separate company, sells its own. Here is what that means for buyers, and how Odins compares.

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Reviewed October 2026 · sources cited on this page

Odins

Managed marketing investment platform

Bayesianfully manageddaily datamonthly retrain

Nielsen

MMM now part of Circana

Audience measurementMMM sold to CircanaNIQ separate

At a glance

Side by side.

The short version of the whole page. Details and sources below.

Odins

Nielsen MMM

What it is

OdinsA managed marketing investment platform: data, model, recommendations and a team behind them

Nielsen MMMNielsen's former MMM business, now part of Circana; Nielsen itself concentrates on audience measurement and content data

Who sells it

OdinsOdins, as a managed subscription

Nielsen MMMCircana, since 21 August 2025, in its media team alongside NCSolutions

Sales data

OdinsAny sales signal the model can learn from: orders, applications, leads or revenue

Nielsen MMMStore-level point-of-sale and causal data on Circana's Liquid Data platform

Methodology

OdinsBayesian MMM end to end, priors set with your team, saturation curves that shift over time

Nielsen MMMStore-level modeling with a globally consistent methodology, per Circana; technique not named publicly

Service model

OdinsFully managed: integrations, model and a recommendation reviewed by a person

Nielsen MMMSelf-service or fully consultative, with more than 100 marketing mix specialists, per Circana

Cadence

OdinsDaily data flow, monthly retrain and reviewed recommendation; scenarios and forecasts any time

Nielsen MMMMarketing Foresight gives always-on access to simulations; model refresh cadence not stated

Offline and drivers

OdinsTV, radio, OOH and print plus pricing and promotions in the same model

Nielsen MMMMedia measured against store sales, using point-of-sale and causal data, with more than 10,000 benchmarks

Segment

OdinsAdvertisers across industries, from EUR 1M to several hundred million a year in marketing budget

Nielsen MMMCircana's core clients are CPG and durables manufacturers and retailers

Cost

OdinsSubscription priced for the budget it optimizes

Nielsen MMMPricing not published

Time to value

OdinsFirst verified model in 4 to 6 weeks from kickoff, data collection and structuring included

Nielsen MMMNot stated publicly

Nielsen facts: Nielsen's announcement of the sale (26 August 2024). Circana facts: Circana's completion notice (21 August 2025), circana.com home and marketing mix modeling pages, and the Marketing Foresight announcement (October 2025), read October 2026. NIQ facts: NIQ's own announcements (March 2021, October 2024).

The honest read

Credit first: Nielsen's MMM now sits on deep retail data.

The former Nielsen MMM business now sits inside Circana, beside retail data that covers 477,000 stores and 42 million tracked CPG and general merchandise items, by Circana's own count. For brands sold through retail, few vendors have data this close to the shelf.

Store-level point-of-sale and causal data, modeled at store level rather than by region
More than 100 data scientists, analysts and consultants working on marketing mix
More than 10,000 industry benchmarks for context
A choice between self-service and a fully consultative approach, with Marketing Foresight for simulations

The difference

Retail data at the shelf, or the sales signal you already record.

The MMM that used to carry Nielsen's name is now built on Circana's point-of-sale data from retail. That fits a brand whose sales run through stores Circana tracks. Odins learns from whatever sales signal your business produces, from orders and subscriptions to applications and leads, and runs the model for you.

Any sales signal the model can learn from: orders, applications, leads or revenue, online and offline
One Bayesian model per market, with TV, radio, OOH and print next to pricing and promotions
Priors set with your team in 2 to 3 working sessions, from spend history, digital saturation signals and structured interviews
Daily data, a monthly retrain and a reviewed recommendation, with scenarios and forecasts you run any time, also from Claude via the Odins MCP

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.

The choice

Who should choose which.

The former Nielsen MMM is now Circana's. Compare it on the data your business actually produces.

Choose Circana's MMM if

Your sales run through retailers that Circana tracks at store level
You are a CPG or durables brand that wants retail benchmarks next to the model
You want the option to self-serve, or a large consulting team

Choose Odins if

Your sales signal is orders, subscriptions, applications or leads, not retail scans
You want the model run for you, with a person reviewing every recommendation
Offline media and business drivers belong in the same model, with scenarios you run yourself

The honest overlap

Both are marketing mix models and both cover offline media. The deciding question is your data. If the sale happens at a shelf Circana tracks, its data is hard to match. If it happens in your own systems, a model that learns from them fits better.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

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 on 21 August 2025. Nielsen said it would concentrate on audience measurement and content data.

Who owns Nielsen MMM now?

Circana, the company built on IRI and NPD. The former Nielsen MMM business joined Circana's media team alongside NCSolutions, and Circana builds its MMM on its Liquid Data platform. We compare it in detail on Odins vs Circana.

Is NIQ the same as Nielsen?

No. NIQ (NielsenIQ) has been a separate company since March 2021. It launched its own marketing mix modeling and matched market testing in October 2024, built on its store-level sales data. That is not the Nielsen MMM business, which went to Circana.

We used Nielsen MMM. What should we check now?

A change of owner is a fair moment to compare. Check which sales data the model will learn from, how often it is refreshed, who reviews the recommendation, and whether you can run scenarios yourself. In Odins, data flows in daily, scenarios and forecasts run any time, and the model is retrained monthly with a recommendation a person has reviewed.

How much does Nielsen MMM cost?

Circana does not publish pricing for its MMM. Odins is a subscription priced for the budget it optimizes, for companies with a marketing budget from EUR 1M to several hundred million a year, with the team included and no data science hires needed.

What are the best alternatives to Nielsen MMM?

It depends on what you need from the model. We compared five options, with sources and who each one fits, on a separate page: the best Nielsen MMM alternatives. Odins is on the list, and we say so up front.