Lily Kholar's blog : TV ratings war continues to rage
The TV ratings controversy is nothing new to the industry,
but as streaming continues to boom both domestically and globally, a whole new
level of woe seems to be on the cards. We turned to entertainment lawyer Los Angeles Brandon Blake for his industry-focused opinion on the latest
developments.
Media Rating Council takes on Nielsen
Just this week, we have seen the Media Rating Council lay
into Nielsen for its “deep-rooted, ongoing performance issues”, in retaliation
to a Neilsen statement that it will be stepping back from the accreditation
process overseen by the MRC. The MRC is government-founded and widely supported
throughout the industry as a watchdog for various media stakeholders.
Nielsen’s reason for the pullback? It seems they merely wish
to focus on the belated launch of Nielsen ONE, the new rating system they claim
will be more comprehensive and operate meaningfully over a wider set of
multimedia platforms. Currently, it’s scheduled for a January 2022 rollout.
Nielsen, of course, is on record as stating that they remain confident in the
integrity of their measurement and data and still support the audit process.
The scathing retort from the MRC is
just the last in a string of complaints about Nielsen’s failure to adapt to the
changing TV landscape. The Video Advertising Bureau, in their role representing
many networks, has maintained that they under-reported viewing throughout the
COVID shutdown period. Nielsen, in retaliation, claims that they have
confidence in their numbers, but that the removal of certain worker types
through COVID safety fears could ‘potentially affect panel data.’
Not holding back
Nor have upset parties been careful with their words on the
matter. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is on record with the powerful, “Nielsen is
a whiff and it’s just massively disappointing that Nielsen can’t get its act
together. … We have lost money. Everyone has lost money. You’re dealing with a
very antiquated delivery system.” The MRC, on the other hand, referred to
“deep-rooted, ongoing performance issues that have threatened its
accreditation, many of which predated the well-documented Covid pandemic-related
impacts to its panels.”
Why it matters
Why is solid ratings data so important? Tens of billions of
dollars in annual marketing spend hangs in the balance, and relevant decisions
can be finalized by (literally) a tenth of a point here and there. Advertisers
are still somewhat cautious in approaching digital TV platforms. It’s an
attractive arena given how carefully demographics can be monitored and
tailored, yet to date advertisers receive little clear feedback on how well
spent their dollars are. Streamers, advertisers, and other interested parties,
needless to say, want to entice further confidence and ad-spend, not face a
mysterious data void. While some of this- and some of Nielsen’s own woes- is
driven by streamers holding their network data close to their chest, many feel
Nielsen should also own culpability in its failure to adjust to modern ways of
consuming content.
Will Nielsen be granted their hiatus? We are still awaiting
MRC deliberations, and even if it’s granted, it can last no longer than half a
year. Nielsen seems confident that they can bring their system up to scratch in
the time available, but for now, we will reserve judgment. The rating wars,
alas, seem set to continue.
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