MRC strips accreditation from Nielsen’s national and local TV measurement services

It’s finally official: Nielsen’s national TV service, which has long served as a crucial measurement backbone for the television media industry, will no longer be third-party accredited by the independent Media Rating Council effective later this month, the organization said today.

The decision from the MRC, which evaluates and accredits measurement tools to ensure figure accuracy and reliability for the advertising community, marks a stunning blow to Nielsen, capping off months of controversy over the accuracy of Nielsen’s audience figures. The decision to strip services of their accreditation is only reached when the MRC finds those services are in non-compliance or are having operational issues that adversely affect their figures.

Nielsen, which had previously admitted to lowballing audiences nationally and locally, requested that the MRC proactively put its accreditation on hiatus as it shored up its own processes and updated its measurement products in anticipation of its new cross-media measurement tool Nielsen One. As part of the decision today, Nieslen’s request to have its national TV service accreditation put on hiatus has been rejected.

The measurement firm instead faces a harsher slap on the wrist, and Nielsen’s national television service isn’t the only Nielsen product that will see its accreditation suspended. Two local market services that Nielsen had previously placed on accreditation hiatus, Nielsen’s Local People Meter and Set Meter Markets services, will have their accreditations suspended as well due to the MRC’s documentation of ongoing issues.

In a statement Wednesday, the MRC executive director and CEO George W. Ivies said that the organization’s board was on the same page about the decision.

“While we are disappointed that the situation has come to this, we believe these are the proper actions for the MRC to take at this time,” Ivie said. “MRC’s Board of Directors, which represents an extremely broad range of industry constituencies, and includes advertisers, agencies and media companies of all types, is strongly unified in its positions on these matters. MRC stands committed in our willingness to work with Nielsen toward the goal of being able to restore accreditation to these important services at the earliest possible time, and it is our hope that Nielsen likewise will continue to engage with MRC and its clients in pursuit of that goal.”

When the suspensions will occur
The decision from the MRC had been expected for weeks, and Adweek previously reported that the council’s TV committee voted overwhelmingly to strip Nielsen’s national TV service of accreditation in mid-August. Nielsen was informed on Aug. 12 that its national TV ratings service may have its accreditation suspended, and on Aug. 20 was told that its local market ratings service accreditation was also in jeopardy.

The suspensions will take effect 30 days from Nielsen’s earlier notification, meaning that the national TV ratings will lose accreditation in about two weeks, with the local market services following a week later.

The decision comes after months of controversy related to the methodology and accuracy of Nielsen’s national TV ratings service, which provide the currency upon which millions in advertising dollars are transacted. The industry group The Video Advertising Bureau, which represents major networks and broadcasters, had aggressively been leading the charge, applying public pressure on Nielsen to retroactively update its audience figures and demanding that the MRC strip Nielsen of its accreditation.

Today, the VAB got what it asked for, and in a statement, VAB president and CEO Sean Cunningham declared victory on the decision.

“The united buy/sell marketplace decision to suspend Nielsen’s national and local market accreditation must be seen by Nielsen as a loud change-or-die challenge,” Cunningham said in a statement. “In fact, all measurement and currency providers with big future aspirations in the video advertising sector must take the 2021 mandate for real transparency, full and deep audience capture, urgent innovation and rigorous verification as mission-critical for them all. Advertisers should expect to see more innovation in the next three years in video measurement and currency than what was achieved in the last 30 years, time has officially expired on friction and frustration.”

Nielsen is ‘disappointed’
“While we are disappointed with this outcome, the suspension will not impact the usability of our data,” Nielsen said in a statement. “Nielsen remains the currency of choice for media companies, advertisers and agencies. We are committed to the audit process and during this pause in accreditation we will work with the MRC on resolving this suspension. We will also take the opportunity to focus on innovating our core products and continue to deliver data that clients can rely on, ultimately creating a better media future for the entire industry.”

David Kenny, Nielsen’s CEO, also sent a letter to clients assuring them that they would work to rectify the MRC’s concerns. “Rest assured, we will continue to provide the most representative, reliable and robust audience measurement available, which the market can continue to trade on with confidence,” he wrote.

But even as Nielsen looks to bring its services into compliance, some broadcasters are eyeing a chance to develop new industry standards.

Among them is the broadcaster NBCUniversal, whose evp, measurement and impact of NBCUniversal’s advertising and partnerships division Kelly Abcarian is an ex- Nielsen executive who joined NBCUniversal in April. Last week, Abcarian signaled the company’s intent to push for new metrics and measurement partners, and said that NBCUniversal had collected dozens of proposals from measurement partners as a first step in constructing its own certified measurement program. Adweek