If you’re searching for Neustar’s marketing analytics or IRI’s marketing mix modeling, both names are out of date, and this page exists to save you the confused procurement call.
The short version: TransUnion acquired Neustar (3.1 billion dollars, completed December 2021) and folded its marketing portfolio into the TransUnion TruAudience brand in March 2023. IRI merged with The NPD Group in August 2022 and rebranded as Circana in March 2023: which then also absorbed Nielsen’s MMM business in August 2025. This guide maps where the legacy names went, what each successor offers, and the alternatives. Claims last verified August 2026, from the companies’ own announcements.
Neustar became TransUnion TruAudience
The dated chain: TransUnion completed its 3.1 billion dollar acquisition of Neustar on 1 December 2021, and by March 2023 the Neustar marketing portfolio had been integrated into TransUnion’s TruAudience brand.
Today, TruAudience Analytics lists four products: Marketing Mix Modeling, Closed-Loop Attribution, Testing and Experimentation, and Benchmark Studies: all running on TransUnion’s identity spine, which is the differentiator: measurement connected to one of the largest identity graphs in the business.
Credibility marker, with its source: TransUnion was named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Marketing Mix Modeling Solutions in December 2024 and again in November 2025, per TransUnion’s own announcements, credited to the TruAudience suite. Its headline ROI claims cite a vendor-commissioned Forrester study: worth knowing when you read them. No public pricing: the only call to action is contact sales.
IRI became Circana (and then bought Nielsen’s MMM)
The second chain: IRI and The NPD Group merged in August 2022 and unveiled the Circana name in March 2023, with insights running on the Liquid Data platform. Circana’s inheritance is retail and consumer purchase data at depth few can match: purchase panels, category benchmarks, decades of it.
Then the consolidation move: in August 2024 Circana announced it would acquire NCSolutions and Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling business, completing NCSolutions in June 2025 and the Nielsen MMM acquisition on 21 August 2025. Circana’s own MMM page now banners that Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling is part of Circana.
It’s also modernizing the offer: Liquid Mix, announced April 2025, is Circana’s self-serve AI marketing mix platform: a notable step for a company whose MMM heritage is consultative engagements. No public pricing anywhere in the portfolio.
What this consolidation means for buyers
Read the two chains together and the picture is stark: three of the biggest legacy MMM names (Neustar’s, IRI’s, Nielsen’s) now live inside two companies. A 2026 shortlist of “the big MMM houses” is effectively TransUnion TruAudience, Circana, and a handful of consultancies.
For buyers, three consequences. Fewer, bigger vendors with deeper data moats: identity graphs on one side, purchase panels on the other, and genuinely hard for anyone else to replicate. Enterprise pricing and pacing throughout: nothing in this tier publishes a price. And a practical nuisance: legacy names no longer resolve to who answers the phone, so old articles and old bookmarks mislead: check the current owner before any procurement conversation starts.
Who the enterprise houses suit
Both successors suit large enterprises: especially CPG and retail-adjacent brands that value purchase-panel data, industry benchmarks and identity-graph integration, with procurement processes built for consultative sales cycles.
Neither suits mid-sized teams needing weekly cadence at accessible cost, nor anyone who wants to see inside the model: these are outcome-delivering engagements, not transparent machinery. That’s not criticism: it’s the shape of the tier, and knowing it saves months of mismatched sales conversations.
Alternatives, including where MarSci fits
Below the enterprise tier, the market is genuinely healthy. Open-source engines: Google’s Meridian and Meta’s Robyn are free, credible, and yours to run if you have the data science capacity: our comparison is Meridian, Robyn and open-source MMM. Modern MMM SaaS like Recast offers weekly-refreshed Bayesian modeling with unusual methodological transparency.
Explore more of MarSci solutions.
Frequently Asked Questions
TransUnion acquired Neustar (3.1 billion dollars, completed December 2021) and folded its marketing portfolio into the TruAudience brand in March 2023. MMM is now a TruAudience Analytics module, and TransUnion was named a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for MMM in 2024 and 2025, per its own announcements.
IRI no longer exists by that name: it merged with NPD in August 2022 and became Circana in March 2023. The MMM practice lives on inside Circana, strengthened by the acquisition of Nielsen’s MMM business completed in August 2025. Search the new name before any procurement call.
Circana, since 21 August 2025, integrated into Circana Media alongside NCSolutions. Nielsen itself now focuses on audience measurement through Nielsen ONE. The August 2025 completion capped a two-year consolidation that reshaped the whole enterprise MMM tier. Buyers should update their shortlists accordingly.
Open-source engines (Meridian, Robyn) run by your own data scientists, modern MMM SaaS like Recast, or managed platforms like MarSci: always-on Meridian-based MMM with peer-reviewed causal attribution, priced for mid-market teams the enterprise tier doesn’t serve. The mid-market tier is healthier than it has ever been.
