Networks And Advertisers Want To Replace Nielsen

With Nielsen under fire and the TV advertising upfronts only a few months away, several prominent content providers have announced partnerships with alternative audience measurement companies and partnering with ad agencies to evaluate the results, reports Brad Adgate at Forbes.

Billie Gold, a media research specialist notes, “The measurement solution gates were thrown wide open when Nielsen lost MRC accreditation, however it remains to be seen if any one of the companies vying for a piece of the currency pie (currently all not fully accredited) can be a one size fits all solution for advertisers.” 

Citing the need for audience measurement independence, last August NBCU issued 54 RFPs to ad tech companies and wound up with over 100 responses. This month, NBCU reached a multi-year agreement with iSpot.TV as an audience measurement provider, this extends an existing relationship begun in 2014. NBCU said they would be undergoing a “test and learn” process with iSpot.TV. 

The test will include next month’s Winter Olympics from Beijing and Super Bowl LVI. It was also announced that media holding company Publicis will invite some clients to participate in the test. NBCU is also seeking new audience measurement tools for the 2022-23 upfront negotiations which will typically start in the late Spring. NBCU plans on using audience data from iSpot.TV in helping to determine advertising rates.

One of the issues NBCU and other networks have been having with Nielsen is lower ratings. For example, the Tokyo Olympics averaged 15.6 million primetime viewers, the lowest average audience in decades. Last year’s Super Bowl on CBS averaged 96.4 million viewers, including a record high 5.7 million who streamed the game. Nonetheless, the audience was a decline from 102 million viewers the previous year and the lowest TV household rating (38.2) since 1969. For the 2020-21 broadcast season, NBC reported a decline in primetime audiences of 18%.

NBC along with other broadcast and cable networks cited Nielsen’s inability to bolster their nationwide People Meter panel during COVID for the sharp drop-off in viewership. At issue was Nielsen’s inability to enter panelists’ households during the lockdown resulting in a smaller People Meter sample causing a declining ratings and ad revenue.