Pros
Nielsen is an excellent company to be able to make an impact in the market and gain access and experience to the biggest advertising brands in the world. Nielsen staff are all smart and nice, although it definitely feels like a large corporate company rather than a more ad tech start-up type of culture. Nielsen has a great focus on leaving a legacy so they encourage you to be a part of some of the internal groups and organizations outside of your daily role. The company attracts some of the most giving and smart people in these areas who want to impact the community and give back. If you are seen as a strong employee they will offer you temporary bubble projects to handle on top of your daily work. This is a great opportunity to prove yourself to senior management and have access to learn new areas of the company. The company is open to flexible working from home on occasion and has full time remote workers.
Cons
Nielsen is a huge company with a multitude of services, which makes it difficult to be able to be nimble to take advantage of opportunities or change strategic tact with the evolving markets and trends. Nielsen senior executives tend to now come from a consulting background and tend to hire other past friends and colleagues. This is creating a senior management that does not have much experience in the area's to which they are in charge. Some reversed decisions, and missed opportunities over the recent years. Middle management and lower level employees don't get much opportunity to have their feedback recognized and acted upon, despite efforts for the company to be seen to do so. Nielsen has been working on their meritocracy over the past 2 years but that is only coming back in terms of recognition through internal awards, rather than helping promotions and remuneration. On the whole, below Senior level the salaries at Nielsen are a good 15 - 20% lower than the industry standard. However, they have good 401k matched contribution.