The Media Ratings Council is restoring accreditation for Nielsen’s national TV ratings after a 19-month suspension. The move comes on the eve of the 2023-24 upfronts (the period advertisers can purchase inventory before a season begins). It doesn’t apply to the corporate’s local ratings, which remain unaccredited.
“As the industry demands measurement that’s trusted, independent and founded on real viewing from real people, we proceed to support the MRC guidelines that set the usual for quality, audited measurement,” Karthik Rao, CEO, Audience Measurement at Nielsen, said in a press release. “It’s our each day mission to take care of our methodologies at the best standard in order that our clients can trade with confidence well into the long run.”
Why we care. The suspension was a very good thing for marketers in some ways. For nearly all of the printed era, Nielsen had what was essentially a monopoly on measuring ratings. For much of that point, each TV networks and advertisers complained concerning the accuracy of the information. Improving the standard of those numbers means brands are less prone to be paying for audience they aren’t getting.
Also, it has opened the door to competitors. NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have all announced they’re working with other data providers, including Comscore Inc. and startups corresponding to VideoAmp, iSpot.television and EDO. More competition means higher service.
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What happened. The MRC suspended Nielsen’s accreditation in September 2021 for 2 reasons. First, an investigation by the council found the corporate undercounted TV viewers through the pandemic because technicians weren’t in a position to get into panelists’ homes to repair devices. Second, Nielsen reported a software error had caused it to undercount out-of-home viewership for nearly six months.
Bad timing. The suspension got here amidst an ongoing drop in TV viewership which made Nielsen’s ratings less beneficial. Since 2011 major network broadcast ratings have dropped greater than 80%, based on SpoilerTV. Further, the cord-cutting trend continues apace. The share of Americans who say they watch television via cable or satellite has plunged from 76% in 2015 to 56% in 2021, based on a Pew survey.
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