“There was no press release. The information being reported on was based on an interview with Ad Age.”
That’s the official comment from Nielsen regarding substantial leadership changes that include Nielsen Audio Managing Director Brad Kelly, who used LinkedIn to confirm his exit, absent any communication from his now-former employer.
Kelly, along with several other executives, are victims of a reduction-in-force initiative that has resulted in a promotion for Karthik Rao.
Rao, who has served as Chief Operating Officer at Nielsen, will become CEO of Nielsen Audience Measurement, Ad Age says; this was confirmed by a Nielsen spokesperson when asked by RBR+TVBR for independent verification and comment on the report, in which CEO David Kenny was interviewed.
Rao will report to Kenny, who agreed to a $16 billion privatization plan initiated by former dissident shareholder Elliott Investment Management L.P. completed in October.
While Rao is rising, Nielsen confirmed multiple reports that Mainak Mazumdar, the chief data and research officer at Nielsen for six years and architect of the Nielsen One cross-platform measurement system, will depart.
“Mazumdar’s departure is seen as a bad sign for the company by some industry insiders given his central role in overseeing the development of Nielsen One and the measurement giant’s overall data business,” Ad Age reported.
Taking on a portion of Mazumdar’s duties is Pete Doe, who is departing as Head of Research for Xandr, owned by Microsoft, Ad Age says. Doe is a former Nielsen executive who departed in 2015. Upon his return, Doe will report to Rao.
Nielsen SVP of U.S. Media Operations and former data science SVP Christine Pierce will be assuming parts of Mazumdar’s responsibilities as well, leading the Global Data Solutions group. “The group is responsible for managing and ensuring the accuracy of inbound data, including both from panels and such big data sets as set-top boxes and smart TVs, plus software development kits, tags and other integrations,” Ad Age explained.
Aside from the Audience Measurement unit, Nielsen will have divisions devoted to Nielsen Analytics and Gracenote, respectively, with Tina Wilson leading Nielsen Analytics. Wilson is the global head of audience outcomes product at Nielsen. Wilson’s oversight will include Scarborough and NCS as well as Sports Fan Insights & Sponsorship Analytics.
Kenny told Ad Age that Mazumdar is leaving because “he’s interested in more of pure research role.” Mazumdar could not verify this statement when reached for comment.
At Gracenote, Chief Content Officer and operations head Sujit Das Munshi will lead the operation that compiles audio and video content data.
Meanwhile, as RBR+TVBR first reported late Monday via Twitter and in a news report on Tuesday, Kelly is a RIF victim. On LinkedIn, he said on Tuesday, “It has been my absolute privilege and honor. P.S. … if you liked Act 1, stay tuned — you’re gonna love Act 2.”
As such, Kelly is expected to resurface in 2023 at perhaps a competitor to Nielsen, or in another role where he can serve as a radio industry champion with marketers. Following his LinkedIn post, Kelly received a host of accolades in the comment window. John Fix, the acclaimed founding member of Procter & Gamble Co.‘s Oral Care Media Team and one of the advertising industry’s biggest champions of Radio, declared, “I’ve said it before — Brad Kelly was solely responsible for half-a-billion dollars of U.S. radio in past years.”
Media broker Larry Patrick added, “Brad, you are a rock star and a radio first-teamer. Looking forward to your next chapter. Rooting for you.”
Others offering words of praise ranged from Dan Mason, the ex-CBS Radio head, and SBS COO Albert Rodriguez to newer radio station leaders including José Villafañe.
Streamline Publishing’s Deborah Parenti, Publisher of RBR+TVBR and Radio Ink, added, “You have made enormous contributions to the industry. Ready and excited for your second act!”
While Nielsen did not confirm or deny the reports, also exiting are CFO Linda Zukauckas, first reported by Axios in November; Zukackas had only been been at Nielsen for seven months, and her exit was noted in an internal memo obtained by Axios. Then, on December 2, one industry trade publication noted that chief product officer Eric Bosco, chief human resources officer Laurie Lovett and chief growth officer Sean Cohan were also leaving, as was chief commercial officer Peter Bradbury.
Kenny told Ad Age the executives “decided to leave because their company-wide roles in the U.S. or globally were no longer available and they weren’t interested in taking roles with the three new business units.”
