Industry Supports Simington Nielsen Proposal
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington’s call last week for the FCC to examine its dependency on Nielsen Media Data (see 2207140055) has broadcaster and programmer support, but an accredited alternative isn't available, said broadcast and ratings industry officials in interviews. In some instances, moving away from Nielsen could be prohibitively disruptive, they said. “For some rules there are viable alternatives,” said Rob Folliard, Gray Television senior vice president-government relations and distribution. “But the entire industry is built on Nielsen" designated market areas. “We believe that this could open up competition and allow for competitors to Nielsen,” said LPTV Broadcasters Association Executive Director Peter Saad.
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Simington said the FCC should issue a notice of inquiry on the possibility of alternatives to Nielsen, comparing the company to the single points of failure that caused supply chain issues in other industries. “In the ordinary course, following uncontroversial principles of good governance, the public might well expect the Commission to routinely canvas the industry for alternative data providers,” Simington said Thursday. The agency should look at possible alternatives to ensure “that our reliance on Nielsen is well-founded.” A Nielsen spokesperson declined to comment.
Broadcasters and programmers have concerns about Nielsen’s accuracy, high cost and online metrics, they told us. The company is also facing a lawsuit from Byron Allen-owned media companies over the accuracy of its rating. “We are highly encouraged by Commissioner Simington’s comments,” said Saad in an email. The LPTVBA argued the FCC should divide broadcaster markets using metropolitan statistical areas -- a system used by OMB -- rather than DMAs. Nielsen is too expensive for most LPTV broadcasters to use, Saad said. Gray Television repeatedly lobbied the FCC to use Longley-Rice signal measurements in lieu of Nielsen to demonstrate its stations are significantly viewed in a market (see 2106100060).
“In many instances, there may be alternatives that would not be disruptive to settled commercial expectations, and the FCC should not be afraid to explore them,” Folliard said. The FCC already accepts some alternatives to Nielsen for determining whether a station is in the top four in a given market or qualifies for a failing station waiver, he said. Commissioner Brendan Carr spoke favorably of Simington’s proposal Thursday.
Nielsen “just does not accurately measure rural America,” said Patrick Gottsch, president of rural TV network RFD-TV. Nielsen uses “1970s” technology such as diaries to measure viewers when streaming channels, and MVPD set-top boxes are able to directly count their viewers for advertisers, he said. Because of small sample sizes, RFD-TV can experience vast swings in its Nielsen numbers based on the activity of a small number of households, he said. The issue of Nielsen’s accuracy could also end up before Congress, Gottsch said, citing a Senate resolution, sponsored by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and referred to committee Thursday, on recognizing the need for access to rural programming. “The next step is hearings,” Gottsch said.
Simington and broadcasters we spoke with also referenced Nielsen’s accreditation woes. The Media Ratings Council suspended Nielsen’s accreditation last year on national and local measurement of TV ratings over concerns about the transparency and effectiveness of the measurements, said MRC President George Ivie in an interview. “I think it gives us pause that the Commission is functionally obligated to adopt presently unaccredited Nielsen data and definitions because, as Nielsen has little competition, the Commission is left with no other choice,” Simington said. Ivie said Nielsen immediately began working to earn its accreditation back, and is undergoing an audit process to determine if its operations again meet the MRC’s standards, but the results won’t be known until the fall.
The FCC Media Bureau and Ivie have said there’s no MRC accredited competitor to Nielsen. Ivie said Nielsen competitor Comscore also sought accreditation, and its results will be available at about the same time as Nielsen's reaccreditation results. Ivie said the MRC is a neutral standards body and doesn’t “anoint” companies but said he’s glad Simington is acknowledging the importance of accreditation. Several ratings companies seek to compete with Nielsen, but few have sought accreditation, he said. “They should be audited. They should be transparent,” Ivie said.