The NPD Group, the international market research company, has bought Nielsen's U.S. marketing information and research services for the book industry. Those Nielsen services include BookScan, which measures 85% of print book sales at retail in the U.S., as well as PubNet, PubEasy and PubTrack products. In the next few months, they are becoming part of NPD Book, a new division, whose president will be Jonathan Stolper, senior v-p, global managing director of Nielsen Book. Nielsen will provide operations support for NPD BookScan and related U.S. services during the transition period. NPD has also offered all U.S. commercial Nielsen Book employees the opportunity to join NPD Book.
Nielsen will continue to own and operate Nielsen Book outside the U.S., both in current and future markets. Nielsen Book includes Nielsen BookScan, Nielsen BookData, Nielsen Books & Consumers, Nielsen BookNet, Nielsen PubEasy, Nielsen PubTrack Digital and the U.K. ISBN Registration Agency.
NPD president and CEO Karyn Schoenbart said, "Industry expertise is a hallmark of NPD, and we are excited to add services for the book industry. Like many of our industries, publishing is experiencing rapid and dramatic change. By combining data and industry expertise, we will be able to give the industry a winning advantage in understanding and anticipating trends."