The demise of Nielsen’s longtime TV diary business means 328 of the ratings giant’s employees in Pinellas County, Florida will be out of a job next month, according to The Tampa Times.
Statewide, the company plans to cut 724 jobs over the coming year as a result of a decision to eliminate its video diary line of business, according to a layoff notice filed with the state of Florida.
The layoffs at Nielsen’s technology and innovation center at the Brooker Creek Corporate Center are scheduled to take place May 24.
Nielsen, which compiles data on what consumers watch and buy, began producing TV ratings in 1950 and long recruited households to fill out diaries about what they watched on television. The viewing data has long played a key role in decisions to set broadcast advertising rates.In recent years, however, the company’s methods have been criticized for not keeping up with technology as families turn away from broadcast and cable television for services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.
In 2016, Adweek.com reported that Nielsen would eliminate the last of its paper diaries, which were being used in some local markets, early this year in favor of the kind of electronic tracking it already was using for its national ratings.
In Oldsmar, 309 of the jobs being eliminated are for research interviewers, 26 of them bilingual. Also being laid off are 10 team or group leaders, three of them bilingual, plus employees who work in analysis, training, project management, recruitment, production control and writing.
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