NIQ, MRI-Simmons, and Cadent have announced an expansion of their relationship to help advertisers plan and activate precise, insight-driven audiences through the Cadent Platform. The collaboration distributes audiences informed by NIQ's omnichannel purchase-based insights alongside audiences derived from MRI-Simmons' consumer research. This integration supports more effective audience targeting across channels, platforms, and devices, addressing the challenge of connecting consumer buying behavior with media reach in a fragmented environment.

As part of the expanded relationship, audiences informed by NIQ's omnichannel shopping and digital purchase insights will be made available for distribution and activation through the Cadent Platform. This will be accompanied by an expanded taxonomy of audiences based on MRI-Simmons research-driven insights. These complementary audiences aim to help advertisers better understand consumer behavior, identify high-value segments, and execute campaigns with greater confidence.

Strategic Benefits for Advertisers

The unified approach provides advertisers with more consistent audience definitions for improved campaign planning, activation, and performance evaluation. By leveraging these insights within Cadent's predictive platform, marketers can better understand which audiences, media partners, and environments drive results. This enables smarter optimization and more accountable, performance-driven advertising strategies.

Key Features of the Collaboration

Jason Attanasio, VP, Data Partnerships at Cadent, stated that the combination of MRI-Simmons' robust data sets and NIQ's insight into consumer spending habits unlocks new insights. When activated on the Cadent Platform, fueled by predictive intelligence, advertisers can amplify precision, performance, and scale across every channel.

Josh Pisano, General Manager of Global Media at NIQ and MRI-Simmons, noted that the expansion helps advertisers bring NIQ's basket level insights across key verticals into their audience strategies in a more actionable way. Combined with MRI-Simmons' full taxonomy of audience definitions, advertisers gain a more complete view of consumers for more effective planning and activation across screens.

NIQ, a leading consumer intelligence company, and Unlimitail, a leading retail media network, have announced a strategic collaboration designed to help brands and retailers unlock a new era of retail media accountability through advanced measurement, consumer insights, interoperable data infrastructure, and AI-powered analytics. This partnership addresses a critical gap in the market, as 67% of CMOs plan to increase spending on retail media networks (RMNs) in 2026, yet only 53% believe today's RMNs provide adequate measurement and attribution capabilities. The collaboration aims to enable advertisers to prove true business impact across retailers, markets, and channels.

The collaboration combines Unlimitail's extensive retail media network with NIQ's measurement and analytics capabilities. Unlimitail's network spans 21 countries, 35 retailers, more than 120 retailer websites, and over 250 million loyalty cardholders. By integrating NIQ's industry-leading consumer intelligence, the companies will help advertisers move beyond campaign metrics to understand the true business impact of retail media investments. This includes gaining a consistent view of performance across retailers, markets, and channels, and unlocking deeper consumer and category insights. As commerce and media continue to converge, brands are under increasing pressure to connect fragmented data sources, prove return on investment, and understand the incremental impact of every marketing dollar.

Strategic Deployment and Technology

As part of the agreement, Unlimitail will deploy NIQ's measurement capabilities as a core component of its evolving technology ecosystem. This deployment includes a new data clean room environment and enhanced AdTech infrastructure. The initial rollout will focus on Carrefour operations in France, Spain, and Brazil, with pilot programs expected to launch in mid 2026. The initiative is designed to help brands connect fragmented data sources, prove return on investment, and understand the incremental impact of every marketing dollar.

Key Benefits and Capabilities

The partnership offers several key benefits aimed at standardizing measurement and improving transparency. These include linking media exposure to verified purchases to measure sales impact and comparing performance across markets and retailers to optimize global media investment. The collaboration also activates privacy-safe collaboration through clean room environments and provides greater transparency and accountability for retail media investments. Additionally, it seeks to standardize measurement across retailer ecosystems and deliver enhanced insights to support future AI-powered commerce and advertising applications.

Executive Commentary

Emilie Darolles, President, West Europe, NIQ, emphasized the importance of trust and measurable outcomes in the evolving retail media landscape. "Retail media is becoming one of the most important growth engines for brands and retailers, but its future depends on trust, transparency, and measurable business outcomes," said Darolles. She noted that the collaboration helps create a more connected measurement ecosystem, enabling marketers to move beyond assumptions and confidently demonstrate the impact of their investments.

Alexis Marcombe, Chief Executive Officer, Unlimitail, highlighted the strategic evolution of retail media. "Retail media has evolved from an emerging channel into a strategic pillar of modern marketing," said Marcombe. He stated that integrating NIQ's trusted measurement capabilities into the Unlimitail ecosystem enables a new level of transparency and performance accountability that benefits advertisers, retailers, and consumers.