Arthur Nielsen facts for kids

Arthur Charles Nielsen Sr. (born September 5, 1897 – died June 1, 1980) was an American businessman and engineer. He is famous for starting the A.C. Nielsen Company. This company created the "Nielsen ratings," which measure how many people watch TV shows.

Early Life and Education

Arthur Nielsen was born in Chicago, Illinois. He went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 1918, he earned a degree in electrical engineering. He was a very good student and even captained the school's tennis team. Later, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Building a Business

Before starting his own company, Nielsen worked as an electrical engineer. He worked for the Isko Company and the H. P. Gould Company in Chicago.

Starting A.C. Nielsen Company

In 1923, Arthur Nielsen started his own company, ACNielsen. He helped create a new field called marketing research. This field helps businesses understand what people want to buy.

His company did two main things:

• They would test new products in small areas. This helped companies see if a product would sell well before making a lot of it.
• They measured how many products were sold in different stores. This helped companies know their market share, or how much of the total sales they had.

Nielsen used careful statistical sampling for this work. This means he picked a small, random group to represent a much larger group. This method was very important before computers could track sales all the time.

The Nielsen Ratings

Arthur Nielsen was also a pioneer in measuring how many people listened to radio and watched TV. He created the famous Nielsen ratings.

In 1942, he started the National Radio Index. This helped radio stations and advertisers know how many people were listening. Then, in 1950, he started a similar service for television.

By the time he passed away, his company was earning a lot of money each year.

Personal Life and Legacy

Arthur Nielsen had a son named Arthur Nielsen Jr. They both loved tennis. They even won the U.S. Father and Son doubles tennis titles in 1946 and 1948.

In 1971, Arthur Nielsen Sr. was added to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. This was for his important contributions to the sport. The University of Wisconsin also gave him an honorary science degree in 1974. The king of Denmark even made him a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog.

Arthur Nielsen and his wife, Gertrude, gave money to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This helped build the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. In 1990, his family also helped create the A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Analytics and Insights at the university. This center teaches students about marketing research.

Arthur Nielsen Jr.

Arthur Nielsen Jr. was Arthur Sr.'s oldest son. He also went to the University of Wisconsin. He helped his father's company grow even more. He encouraged the company to buy one of the first large computers, a Univac, in 1948. This helped the company track information even better.

Professional Recognition

Arthur Nielsen received many awards for his work:

• Annual Advertisement Awards Committee, 1936
• Chicago Federated Advertisements Club, 1941
• American Marketing Association, 1951 and 1970
• Hall of Fame in Distribution, 1953
• International Advertisement Association, 1966