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 buy inventory before a season begins). It doesn’t apply to the company’s local ratings, which remain unaccredited.
“As the industry demands measurement that is trusted, independent and founded on real viewing from real people, we continue to support the MRC guidelines that set the standard for quality, audited measurement,” Karthik Rao, CEO, Audience Measurement at Nielsen, said in a statement. “It’s our daily mission to maintain our methodologies at the highest standard so that our clients can trade with confidence well into the future.”
Why we care. The suspension was a good thing for marketers in many ways. For nearly all of the broadcast era, Nielsen had what was essentially a monopoly on measuring ratings. For much of that time, both TV networks and advertisers complained about the accuracy of the data. Improving the quality of those numbers means brands are less likely 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 are working with other data providers, including Comscore Inc. and startups such as VideoAmp, iSpot.tv and EDO. More competition means better service.
Dig deeper: Nielsen announces first module for cross-screen audience measurement platform
What happened. The MRC suspended Nielsen’s accreditation in September 2021 for two reasons. First, an investigation by the council found the company undercounted TV viewers during the pandemic because technicians were not able to get into panelists’ homes to fix devices. Second, Nielsen reported a software error had caused it to undercount out-of-home viewership for nearly six months.
Bad timing. The suspension came amidst an ongoing drop in TV viewership which made Nielsen’s ratings less valuable. Since 2011 major network broadcast ratings have dropped more than 80%, according to 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, according to a Pew survey.
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Nielsen, the leading global provider of media, content, and advertising analytics, has announced that their National TV ratings service has been granted accreditation after a 19-month suspension.
The suspension came about in February of 2019, when the Media Ratings Council (MRC) found inconsistencies in the company’s National TV ratings system, called National Panel. The accreditation of the National Panel was then suspended, forcing Nielsen to make changes in order to reinstate it.
Over the past 19 months, Nielsen has been hard at work reorganizing and refining their ratings systems. This process included creating a new service called Total Audience Network, which is designed to provide an even deeper level of insights into viewing behaviour across all channels and platforms.
The MRC has now confirmed that Nielsen has made the necessary changes and has been granted their accreditation. Nielsen’s chief product officer commented on the accreditation, noting that the company is proud of the changes they have made and that they look forward to serving their clients in the months and years ahead.
The MRC noted that the suspension of accreditation had no bearing on the accuracy of the system’s ratings, only the processes in which Nielsen maintained them. This is reassuring to Nielsen’s clients, as it suggests that customer confidence in Nielsen’s ratings will remain high.
The return of their accreditation is a big win for Nielsen and will help them to solidify their reputation as a reliable provider of media and content analytics. It will also have a positive impact on their clients, as the accreditation gives them the assurance that Nielsen’s ratings are accurate and reliable.
