Nielsen under fire as US TV audiences appear to fall

US — TV measurement companies, including Nielsen, have come under fire from US broadcasters accusing them of failing to keep up with changing viewing habits.

A story in the Financial Times noted that falling TV ratings had become a feature of recent financial results: according to analysts MoffettNathanson, Viacom saw viewership fall 18% in the fourth quarter of 2014, while Nickelodeon audiences had fallen by 17% and MTV 14%.

Viacom has argued that people are still watching its content but in different ways – including on smartphones and games consoles – and has pointed the finger at Nielsen for not accounting for this. According to the story, Viacom’s chief executive Philippe Dauman has said that inadequate measurement has undermined innovation and disproportionately hit programmers such as Viacom.

Nielsen has admitted that viewing a programme after its original transmission has taken a toll on TV measurement. “What it looks like is a decline in ratings when in fact there is shifting viewing that is not captured,” said Megan Clarken, Nielsen’s executive vice-president of global digital products. The company has also revealed plans to introduce new tools to measure watching on digital devices.

This criticism comes months after Nielsen admitted that it had been reporting inaccurate ratings for US broadcast ratings for seven months last year.

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts