Nielsen Won’t Use Amazon ‘Thursday Night Football’ Viewership Data (At Least For Now)
Nielsen is introducing a new standard for media that is currently inaccessible.
Nielsen decided not to proceed with its intention of including data directly from Amazon as part of its analysis of the viewership for the live stream of "Thursday Night Football." This decision was met with disapproval from television networks, ultimately ending any speculation that the influential measurement company would integrate information from the companies it evaluates into its national viewership measurements, at least for now.
Nielsen expressed their intention to include client input and adhere to the utmost standards when implementing new methods of measuring audiences. Currently, Nielsen's panel-based National TV service will continue to serve as the official reference point. However, first-party data will be incorporated into the National measurement figures of Big Data, which will be accessible to all customers independently.
The company had intended to integrate Amazon's "TNF" data and its approach to utilizing it, which was even presented to the Media Ratings Council, an impartial organization supported by the media and advertising sectors that evaluates companies providing audience measurement services, just last week. However, the TV networks criticized the concept and urged Nielsen to delay it.
Amazon and Nielsen have been in talks about forming a partnership since the beginning of this year. The discussions arose after the two organizations had a disagreement regarding the number of viewers for last season's "Thursday Night Football." Nielsen, who primarily calculates viewership based on information collected from viewer panels, reported an audience size that was 18% lower than what Amazon had estimated by considering the number of devices streaming the Thursday night feed. Now, the two entities have collaborated to resolve this discrepancy.
The VAB, an organization that represents American television networks, recently sent a letter to Nielsen asking them to stop collaborating with Amazon. In the letter, Sean Cunningham, the CEO of the VAB, expressed concern about Nielsen's plans to work with Amazon in the sports content industry. Cunningham believes that these plans will give Amazon an advantage while negatively affecting other clients of Nielsen who are involved in NFL programming, distribution, and advertising.
In spite of this, the television stations have been experimenting with comparable initiatives. Their criticism of the alliance between Nielsen and Amazon arises after their continuous efforts to convince advertisers and Nielsen to adopt alternative audience measurement methods based on the data they provide. Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery have been especially outspoken about the necessity to explore alternative technological solutions for measuring audiences. They believe that Nielsen is not keeping up with the pace required to accurately account for viewers who stream their favorite shows, as opposed to watching them at a fixed day and time each week on a traditional TV network.
Nielsen has stated its commitment to exploring the possibility of using media outlets' data. "We are pleased with the excitement expressed by the MRC TV committee members and our clients regarding the inclusion of first-party data in our measurements. We are currently engaged in advanced discussions with prominent programmers and expect motivated partners to finalize the integration process in the upcoming season," Nielsen informed its clients in a letter on Thursday.
