Nielsen Reports $100M Profit During 1Q 2016

Media-ratings firm Nielsen NV increased its 1Q profit and revenue as customers continue to adopt new tools for measuring digital viewership.

Earnings per share beat analyst expectations by a penny, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Nielsen has been under fire from some networks for a methodology they say isn’t adapting quickly enough to changing media-consumption habits such as smartphone viewing and streaming media. Earlier this month, Nielsen reached a set-top box deal with satellite-TV provider Dish Network Corp. The data-measurement firm will get access to anonymous information from Dish subscribers.

Nielsen recently launched its “total audience measurement” framework that tracks viewership across live TV, DVRs, streaming devices and video on demand. These new products haven’t yet become the near-universally used industry standard like its TV ratings.

Still in Nielsen’s Watch segment for media producers and advertisers, revenue rose 5.2%, or 6.3% adjusted for currency fluctuations, driven by adoption of the new tools. The company also said it would increase its quarterly dividend to 31 cents a share from 28 cents a share.

In all for the period, Nielsen reported a profit of $100 million, or 27 cents a share, up from $63 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, per-share profit was 51 cents.