YouGov to acquire Consumer Panel Business of GfK SE

YouGov is bolstering the insights it provides to clients with the acquisition of GfK SE’s Consumer Panel Business.

GfK's Consumer Panel Business is an established leader in household purchase data, with panels across 16 European countries consisting of over 100,000 homes in total.

Its incorporation into YouGov’s existing flagship capabilities, including YouGov BrandIndex, YouGov Profiles and YouGov Finance, will give clients in the FMCG sector unrivalled, end-to-end access to insights into consumer behaviour – from awareness and perceptions of brands through to eventual purchase behaviour.

GfK’s panel is already trusted by blue-chip brands across Europe . Together with YouGov, the insights will provide a 360-degree view of how FMCG shoppers think, act and buy, allowing brands to stay ahead of consumer trends and react accordingly. The Consumer Panel Business will also expand and augment YouGov’s US offering using YouGov Plus Panels and adding expertise in building SKU data product and barcode catalogue, specialist data science, and creation and maintenance of household samples.

Combined with YouGov’s existing capabilities, clients will now be able to paint an even more detailed picture of:

• Who their target audience is
• Their habits, behaviours and attitudes
• Where, when and how often they consume their media
• What they think of the brands on offer to them
• What they spend on and what they plan to spend on
• How they feel about their purchases.

The acquisition of GfK’s Consumer Panel Business is subject to customary closing conditions and completion is expected in the second half of 2023.

At that point, to ensure a smooth transition for existing clients, a services agreement, overseen by existing managers, will be in place for up to 24 months.

Stephan Shakespeare, YouGov Chief Executive Officer and Non-Executive Chair Designate, commented:

"We are delighted to be acquiring one of the leaders in European household purchase data. The business' approach to data collection and its geographic coverage are highly complementary to YouGov.

This transaction is important for us strategically, extending our offering further into the under-penetrated FMCG sector, bringing with it long-standing relationships with a blue-chip client base. We are excited by the future potential of this combination, as it provides us with the opportunity to super-charge our customer value proposition by combining one of the richest data sets on household purchases with YouGov's existing media consumption and brand data.

“We believe this transaction will support YouGov's stated ambition of becoming the world's #1 market research company."

For more details on the acquisition, please click here.