Circana launches Liquid Mix with Google Meridian, combining Google's MMM framework with Circana's first-party data
Circana wraps Google's free open-source Meridian MMM code around its own POS and household-panel substrate and sells the combined output to CPG advertisers as Liquid Mix, keeping the rake because it does the enrichment Google gave away.
Where the rake sits
Circana keeps the entire commercial rake: it does the integration, owns the substrate, and holds the buyer relationship. Google keeps nothing directly monetary from Liquid Mix — its return is ecosystem adoption of Meridian as a measurement standard, not a revenue share (no split is publicly disclosed).
What happened
- Circana launched Liquid Mix combining Google's Meridian marketing-mix-modeling framework with Circana's first-party POS and consumer-panel data.
- Google released Meridian broadly as open-source Bayesian MMM code on GitHub in February 2025, with 20+ certified measurement partners including Circana.
- Circana was formed by the 2022 IRI/NPD merger and advises ~7,000 brands and retailers, tracking point-of-sale from 290 million households globally.
- Google contributes modeling code, not data; Circana contributes the substrate and runs the model to produce channel-level marketing-effectiveness reads.
- The buyer receives model outputs (ROI curves, budget scenarios); Circana's underlying POS and panel transactions do not cross to Google or to the advertiser.
Who is involved
Chicago-based consumer intelligence and market-research firm formed by the 2022 IRI/NPD merger; holds syndicated point-of-sale and consumer-panel data on CPG, retail and restaurants that is the first-party substrate feeding Liquid Mix.
Advises ~7,000 brands and retailers; tracks point-of-sale from 290 million households globally; private, owned by Hellman & Friedman, Vestar and New Mountain Capital
Provider of Meridian, the open-source Bayesian marketing-mix-modeling framework released broadly in February 2025 and distributed free on GitHub; contributes the modeling code, not data, into Liquid Mix.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), multi-trillion-dollar market cap; Meridian launched broadly Feb 2025 with 20+ certified measurement partners
The reading
The enrichment is done by Circana: Meridian is free open-source Bayesian MMM code that Google gives away on GitHub, so the value-adding layer is Circana's first-party POS/panel data plus its analysts running the model to produce marketing-effectiveness reads for CPG advertisers.
The buyer's decision is where to point next quarter's media budget across channels; Circana's 290M-household POS/panel data is what lets Meridian's channel-level Bayesian estimates be calibrated to actual CPG sell-through rather than platform-reported clicks.
Meridian code crosses to Circana (and to anyone else on GitHub); Circana's POS panel does not cross to Google or to the advertiser — the buyer receives model outputs (ROI curves, budget scenarios) but not the underlying household transactions.
Not determinable from the release; the question is whether Circana is pricing Liquid Mix against the budget decisions it informs or against the cost of running the model, and the announcement discloses neither.
Why it matters
Meridian being free on GitHub is what makes this case interesting: the modeling layer that would once have been the vendor's rake is now a commodity, which pushes the value back down onto whoever owns the calibration substrate. Worth deciding whether Liquid Mix is priced against the media budget it steers or against the cost of running the model — the release does not say, and that gap is where the interesting question sits.
Sources
- globenewswire.com — primary
- en.wikipedia.org — party background
- circana.com — party background
- blog.google — party background
- developers.google.com — party background
Announced 2026-09-08 · Added to the register 2026-09-10