NCSolutions
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersCincinnati, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
NCSolutions firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- NCSolutions
- Legal name
- NC Ventures, LLC
- Website
- https://ncsolutions.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
NCSolutions industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Advertising Effectiveness / Marketing Analytics
- NAICS
- Advertising Agencies (541810), Advertising Agencies (54181)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising (7310)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Customer Experience (CX) & Voice of Customer (NPS/CSAT, Journey Research) (MPAAALAH)
Keywords
Where NCSolutions is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cincinnati
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
NCSolutions business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Audience Segmentation Services: Creating audience segments from consumer purchase data for targeting purposes. NCS audience segment services are used by customers for internal purposes and to reach specific audiences for marketing and advertising across various media channels.
- Measurement and Optimization Services: Measurement/optimization services helping brands understand advertising effectiveness and return on media spend. Includes Sales Effect studies for sales lift measurement and in-flight campaign optimization.
- Data Enablement: Providing anonymized household-based weekly-aggregated purchase insights for customers' internal business analytics, attribution, media measurement, and audience creation.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Managed Service Model |
| Subscription | Monthly | Self-Service Dashboard/Clean Room |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
NCSolutions product offering
Product offeringCore offering
NCSolutions operates a purchase-based advertising effectiveness platform that combines household-level consumer purchase data (127 million households, 4,500 product groups, 3 million refined UPCs) with proprietary machine learning models to deliver audience targeting, in-flight campaign optimization, and post-campaign sales lift measurement for CPG brands. Its portfolio includes NCS Enablement (data delivery via CPG Insights Stream), NCS Targeting (purchase-based audience segmentation), NCS Optimization (real-time bid stream optimization), and NCS Measurement (Sales Effect studies for incremental sales and ROAS) across TV, digital, and retail media.
Product overview
NCSolutions is an advertising effectiveness platform that provides a four-module portfolio (NCS Enablement, NCS Optimization, NCS Targeting, and NCS Measurement) designed to help CPG brands connect with high-intent buyers, prove advertising ROI, and optimize campaign performance in real-time. The platform is built on verified purchase data combining household-level consumer behavior with sophisticated machine learning models. Following Circana's acquisition of NCSolutions in June 2025, the platform now integrates with Circana's retail measurement data and Marketing Mix Modeling capabilities to provide unified audience targeting, activation, and accountability across 500+ retailers and 40 countries.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- NCSolutions Portfolio: Suite of advertising effectiveness solutions including NCS Enablement, NCS Optimization, NCS Targeting, and NCS Measurement products.
- NCS Enablement
- NCS Optimization
- NCS Targeting
- NCS Measurement
Products and services
- NCS Enablement Data enablement solution that delivers household-level weekly-aggregated purchase insights through the CPG Insights Stream, formatted for clean room environments and integrated with customers' data lakes and platforms for analytics, attribution, and audience creation.
- NCS Optimization In-flight campaign optimization service providing real-time visibility into campaign performance through buyer-driven bidding and early read capabilities, enabling advertisers to shift audiences and media tactics directly in the bid stream based on actual buyer data.
- NCS Targeting Purchase-based audience targeting service that segments audiences based on verified real-world purchase behavior, enabling brands to reach high-intent buyers across publishers, TV providers, DSPs, and programmatic channels with tailored segments for campaign goals.
- NCS Measurement Advertising effectiveness measurement solution that delivers NCS Sales Effect studies quantifying incremental sales lift and ROAS for CPG campaigns, with cross-media measurement across TV, digital, and retail media networks.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3X higher ROAS for brands using purchase-based targeting compared to traditional methods
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use NCSolutions
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
NCSolutions technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature5 records
NCSolutions partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- CircanacoreCircana completed acquisition of NCSolutions in June 2025, integrating NCS's advertising effectiveness capabilities into Circana's broader media measurement and analytics platform. The acquisition expanded Circana's client access to audience targeting, media measurement, and optimization tools, combining Circana's retail data with NCS's purchase-based insights.
- NielsencoreNielsen was one of the original joint venture partners in NCSolutions alongside Catalina. NCS was established as a joint venture between Nielsen and Catalina to provide purchase-based advertising measurement services to the CPG industry.
- CatalinacoreCatalina was one of the original joint venture partners in NCSolutions alongside Nielsen. NCS was established as a joint venture between Nielsen and Catalina to provide purchase-based advertising measurement services to the CPG industry.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
NCSolutions competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Circana: NCS's parent company and the combined IRI/Nielsen retail measurement platform. Circana provides market, consumer, and media measurement across 500+ retailers globally and now houses NCS as an integrated measurement offering, making it both operator and adjacent competitor.
- Acxiom: Large-scale consumer data and identity infrastructure provider serving many of the same CPG advertisers. Acxiom's data assets and audience targeting capabilities overlap with NCS Targeting, though with a different data lineage (compiled consumer files vs. verified purchase receipts).
- Salesforce (Datorama / Marketing Cloud Intelligence): Enterprise marketing analytics and intelligence platform used by CPG advertisers for cross-channel campaign measurement and attribution. Competes for the same advertising effectiveness budget pool, especially with large CPG clients standardizing on Salesforce marketing stacks.
- GroupM (WPP): World's largest media investment group operating agency-side measurement, planning, and analytics (including Choreograph and GroupM Nexus). It is both a buyer of NCS measurement services and a competitor via in-house CPG-focused measurement capabilities.
Direct peers
- IRI: Now merged into Circana but historically a direct CPG market and media measurement competitor. IRI provided point-of-sale data and consumer insights to CPG brands, overlapping with NCS on sales lift measurement and audience targeting prior to the Circana combination.
- Nielsen: Historically the JV partner that co-founded NCSolutions alongside Catalina. Nielsen remains the dominant third-party media and audience measurement provider for CPG advertisers, with overlapping measurement, audience ratings, and advertising effectiveness offerings that compete directly with NCS Sales Effect studies.
- Catalina: Co-founder of the original Nielsen Catalina Solutions JV and a leading buyer-intelligence platform leveraging retailer loyalty data. Catalina operates in the same purchase-based targeting and CPG measurement category, with overlapping customer base and methodology.
Emerging players
- The Trade Desk: Major independent DSP and a partner-channel route for NCS's programmatic activation. The Trade Desk competes indirectly by offering its own audience solutions (e.g., UID2) and integrated measurement that could substitute for third-party purchase-based measurement.
- LiveRamp: Data connectivity platform enabling brands, publishers, and platforms to leverage first-party data through clean rooms and identity resolution. LiveRamp's RampID and Data Collaboration products are an alternative path for CPG advertisers seeking purchase-based audience activation, especially via clean rooms.
- Amazon Marketing Cloud: Amazon's advertiser-facing clean room environment for measuring media performance against Amazon purchase signals. As CPG spend shifts to Amazon Ads, AMC is an increasingly compelling alternative for sales-lift measurement, particularly for brands prioritizing Amazon-first measurement.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
NCSolutions social profiles
Digital presenceNCSolutions financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
NCSolutions leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
NCSolutions funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
NCSolutions M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about NCSolutions
What does NCSolutions do?
NCSolutions operates a purchase-based advertising effectiveness platform that combines household-level consumer purchase data (127 million households, 4,500 product groups, 3 million refined UPCs) with proprietary machine learning models to deliver audience targeting, in-flight campaign optimization, and post-campaign sales lift measurement for CPG brands. Its portfolio includes NCS Enablement (data delivery via CPG Insights Stream), NCS Targeting (purchase-based audience segmentation), NCS Optimization (real-time bid stream optimization), and NCS Measurement (Sales Effect studies for incremental sales and ROAS) across TV, digital, and retail media.
Is NCSolutions a public or private company?
NCSolutions is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was NCSolutions founded?
NCSolutions was founded in 2009. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is NCSolutions based?
NCSolutions is headquartered in Cincinnati, United States, in the North America region.
How does NCSolutions make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Audience Segmentation Services are the primary driver. The others are measurement and Optimization Services and data Enablement.
Who are NCSolutions's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Circana, Acxiom, Salesforce (Datorama / Marketing Cloud Intelligence) and GroupM (WPP). Direct peers are IRI, Nielsen and Catalina. Emerging players are The Trade Desk, LiveRamp and Amazon Marketing Cloud.
Does NCSolutions have an API?
No public API is recorded for NCSolutions.
What industry is NCSolutions in?
NCSolutions's product category is Advertising Effectiveness / Marketing Analytics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAALAH, Customer Experience (CX) & Voice of Customer (NPS/CSAT, Journey Research). Its NAICS code is 541810 and its SIC code is 7310.