Appeals Court Lifts Restrictions on Nielsen

A federal appeals court has temporarily lifted restrictions on Nielsen's national radio ratings policies by granting the company's request for a stay in its ongoing antitrust dispute with Cumulus Media.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an order granting Nielsen a stay pending appeal. This pauses enforcement of a preliminary injunction from a lower court, meaning the restrictions are not in effect while the full appeal proceeds.

The injunction, issued in December 2025 by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in New York, had blocked Nielsen from enforcing its "Network Policy." That policy links access to Nielsen's national radio ratings, a critical tool for selling national advertising, to the purchase of local market ratings data. The district court found Cumulus likely to succeed on claims that this constituted unlawful tying under Section 2 of the Sherman Act. It also restricted Nielsen from charging what the court deemed commercially unreasonable rates for standalone national ratings and cited the "Subscriber First Policy" as discouraging switches to competitors like Eastlan.

Cumulus, which operates local stations and the Westwood One national network, argued that Nielsen's practices effectively forced broadcasters to buy bundled local data to obtain usable national ratings, harming competition in the radio measurement market.

Nielsen appealed urgently, arguing the injunction would severely disrupt its audio business, interfere with legitimate pricing, and create impractical compliance burdens. The Second Circuit's stay restores the pre-injunction status quo for now.

The underlying antitrust lawsuit, Cumulus Media New Holdings, Inc. v. The Nielsen Company (US) LLC, remains active in district court. Recent developments include Nielsen filing counterclaims against Cumulus, alleging breach of contract for allegedly sharing confidential ratings data with rival Eastlan.

Nielsen's national radio ratings continue to serve as the dominant industry benchmark for network radio advertising buys, making the case's outcome potentially significant for how ratings data is bundled, priced, and competed within the radio marketplace. The appeal's resolution could clarify boundaries on tying practices in media measurement services.