{"id":86990,"date":"2025-07-24T22:02:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T22:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/24\/measurement-competitors-try-to-snatch-the-crown-but-nielsen-remains-king-for-now\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T22:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T22:04:06","slug":"measurement-competitors-try-to-snatch-the-crown-but-nielsen-remains-king-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/24\/measurement-competitors-try-to-snatch-the-crown-but-nielsen-remains-king-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Measurement Competitors Try to Snatch the Crown, But Nielsen Remains King for Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As this 12 months\u2019s upfront season involves a detailed, Nielsen stays the business chief, however amid a messy measurement conflict, opponents aren\u2019t backing down.<\/p>\n

And why ought to they? Lately, measurement opponents Comscore, iSpot, and VideoAmp all obtained a particular nod from the U.S. Joint Business Committee (JIC), which certified<\/a> the three as currencies of document forward of the 2025-2026 broadcast TV season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A foreign money is the unit of worth that advert patrons and advert sellers use to transact throughout the multibillion-dollar TV promoting business. For years, Nielsen\u2019s C3 and C7 panel rankings\u2014which measure industrial viewership over a three- and seven-day interval\u2014have been the business normal.<\/p>\n

The JIC certification comes as business big Nielsen is uniquely vulnerable<\/a> because it tries to reinvent its foreign money for the long run.<\/p>\n

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\"Comscore,<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

The corporate\u2019s new panel + big data offering<\/a>\u2014which mixes Nielsen\u2019s conventional panel with information from cable, satellite tv for pc set-top containers, and sensible TVs throughout 45 million households and 75 million units\u2014is the foreign money it\u2019s backing for this 12 months\u2019s TV upfront season.<\/p>\n

However two high-ranking media patrons have informed ADWEEK that inconsistencies with Nielsen\u2019s panel + massive information have led to delays and disruptions in upfront negotiations, as hundreds of thousands of {dollars} grasp within the steadiness.<\/p>\n

Nielsen has urged advertisers to be affected person. \u201cA foreign money change is way totally different than an information change,\u201d Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao informed ADWEEK at Cannes Lions in June. \u201cIt\u2019s a workflow change. It\u2019s a piece course of change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivals like <\/strong>VideoAmp, Comscore, and iSpot, nonetheless, are chomping on the bit to undercut this core a part of Nielsen\u2019s enterprise, with the JIC backing enhancing their long-term viability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing couldn’t come at a extra essential second because the promoting business is in flux, planning an upfront primarily based on a strategy that’s risky,\u201d Peter Liguori, the newly-named CEO of VideoAmp, informed ADWEEK, of the corporate\u2019s JIC acknowledgement.<\/p>\n

Liguori added that the JIC accreditation ought to instill confidence in advertisers that they will transact on different currencies. In any case, in line with the VideoAmp CEO, \u201cmany audit committee members\u201d are additionally a part of the audit committee for the Media Ranking Council (MRC), the opposite massive measurement ranking company within the business.<\/p>\n

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\"VideoAmp<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

Loosening Nielsen\u2019s tight grip<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Regardless of Nielsen\u2019s stumbles in recent times, it\u2019s onerous for opponents to get greater than a toehold.<\/p>\n

At the same time as a few of these opponents have a good time the JIC accreditation, Nielsen\u2019s panel + massive information foreign money has MRC accreditation, which gives a extra intensive measurement audit than the JIC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additionally, the JIC accreditation isn\u2019t going to impression the present upfront season, in line with two advert patrons. It\u2019s \u201ctoo late at this level\u201d within the upfront season to start out utilizing a brand new foreign money as a complete, a type of advert patrons mentioned, particularly with publishers already closing deals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the customer famous that they\u2019ve been encouraging shoppers to lean into different currencies for superior audiences and data-driven linear.<\/p>\n

For a lot of measurement upstarts, the perfect alternative to unseat Nielsen was in 2021, when it misplaced MRC accreditation for lowballing both local and national audiences <\/a>through the COVID-19 pandemic. However Nielsen regained national accreditation<\/a> in April 2023.<\/p>\n

Publicly, Nielsen claims it welcomes competitors: \u201cIt makes us, and the business, higher,\u201d a spokesperson mentioned.<\/p>\n

However it has additionally hammered its rivals with a gentle drumbeat of lawsuits, submitting ten patent infringement complaints <\/strong>during the last three years towards opponents like TVision, HyphaMetrics, ACRCloud, and VideoAmp.<\/p>\n

When VideoAmp obtained one lawsuit dismissed earlier this 12 months, Nielsen swooped in with a brand new grievance, proper earlier than the corporate\u2019s second Vampfront occasion in April, the place it showcased new merchandise to shoppers.<\/p>\n

Nielsen\u2019s huge assets give it the power to file its unending lawsuits to weaken its competitors, Liguori mentioned. Even dismissals have a value.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all a part of their technique to empty us of our monetary assets,\u201d he informed ADWEEK. \u201cWhile you\u2019re a monolith, you’ll be able to play that recreation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liguori added that Nielsen\u2019s sturdy public relations staff additionally provides the corporate the higher hand: \u201cIt\u2019s like a Lamborghini subsequent to a horse and buggy,\u201d he mentioned.<\/p>\n

A horse\u2019s likelihood towards a Lambo<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Since Liguori took over the corporate in 2024 amid the exit of former CEO Ross McCray and layoffs affecting 20% of VideoAmp\u2019s workforce<\/a>, the corporate has been vocal in messaging towards Nielsen, going to market with $600 million in funding and an providing comprising set-top-box and sensible TV information from 40 million households and 65 million units. It has additionally fortified itself with key partnerships with publishers akin to Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Paramount<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This has led to wins leveraging a few of the business\u2019s discontent towards Nielsen.<\/p>\n

For example, Paramount turned to VideoAmp in late 2024 for its viewership reporting over a dispute with the cost of Nielsen\u2019s services<\/a>, and, throughout its January Golden Globes broadcast\u2014one in every of VideoAmp\u2019s first main public exams\u2014VideoAmp discovered that the awards present reached an average of 10.1 million viewers<\/a>. Nielsen would later report that the occasion reached a median of 9.3 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Concerning the Golden Globes state of affairs, a spokesperson from Nielsen mentioned that numbers have been issued so shoppers can get \u201ca full view of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of many nice advantages of working with Nielsen\u2014you get a full evaluation of TV viewership over a number of years,\u201d the spokesperson added. \u201cThis info was sought out by the business as a result of we offer essentially the most correct and trusted measurement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whereas a number of publishers, together with Paramount and NBCUniversal, declare to be measurement-agnostic, two patrons informed ADWEEK that the consistency of Nielsen throughout the business makes it a staple that\u2019d be onerous to supplant. <\/p>\n

Liguori mentioned that as a substitute of displacing Nielsen as a foreign money, he needs VideoAmp to have a spot in a multicurrency world, the place it has already made strides. Over the past 12 months, VideoAmp reported $3 billion in foreign money ensures, an 880% year-over-year development, the corporate mentioned.<\/p>\n

However even when the TV business have been to constantly transact on a number of currencies, the market usually treats Nielsen\u2019s numbers because the \u201cfact set,\u201d in line with an exec from one other Nielsen competitor.<\/p>\n

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\"Nielsen is<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

Competitors have also complained <\/a>that Nielsen prevents its information from being in contrast with different measurement suppliers, which solidifies Nielsen because the supplier of that \u201cfact set,\u201d making it tough to chip away at its dominance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe business has full transparency on our information and measurement\u2014and so they can replicate our measurement on our platforms, which they’re educated to make use of,\u201d a Nielsen spokesperson mentioned in response.<\/p>\n

Taking measure of the business\u2019s future<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Regardless of complaints concerning the upheaval round Nielsen\u2019s panel + massive information providing, it doesn\u2019t appear as if the TV business is stepping away from it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a substitute, they’re making an attempt to adapt to it.<\/p>\n

Chatting with ADWEEK in Could, John Halley, Paramount\u2019s ad sales chief<\/a>, mentioned, \u201cWhen the info units change, there’s some turbulence there that must be understood. That course of is a internet new for many advertisers, most companies, and most publishers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the meantime, a Nielsen spokesperson has mentioned the agency is \u201cproud\u201d to be the primary firm to earn accreditation for giant information + panel and first-party reside streaming, whereas it continues to broaden out-of-home measurement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuge information + panel is the most recent innovation that’s pushed, supported, and embraced by our shoppers, and it represents essentially the most correct measurement thus far,\u201d a Nielsen spokesperson mentioned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the identical time, advert patrons are preserving the door open for opponents like VideoAmp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the larger 50,000-foot view, VideoAmp has made a variety of strides, and so they\u2019ve achieved loads,\u201d a media purchaser who attended Vampfront informed ADWEEK.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One media purchaser talking anonymously mentioned that Nielsen is \u201cnot the one recreation on the town,\u201d and VideoAmp has \u201cemerged as a real competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n