In a recent interview with Ad Week, David Kenny, CEO of Nielsen, discussed the company’s efforts to regain the trust of publishers and buyers, as well as its top priorities for the next two years. This comes after Nielsen lost third-party accreditation in late 2021, with the Media Rating Council (MRC) confirming that the company’s status remains suspended.
Last year, the measuring company acknowledged its failure to accurately gauge local and national viewership during the initial stages of the pandemic. This miscalculation may have resulted in significant financial losses for their customers, leading to the revocation of their accreditation by the MRC over a year ago. Despite this setback, Nielsen managed to perform satisfactorily during the upfronts.
Kenny emphasized the importance of transparency regarding the data and methodologies they employ. To achieve this, they have actively participated in MRC committees, where they continue sharing their methods openly.
“We’ve also been very clear that we produce a single number; it’s a syndicated number. Everyone sees the same thing. So, people have opinions that might favor their story,” said Kenny. “At the end of the day, I think staying true to what we’ve always been, which is the best estimate of what the audience is actually doing at a granular level. And I think the more we’re proving that out, the more trust we build.”
Kenny stated that given the significant effort we’ve invested in auditing and accreditation, we must prioritize continuous improvement in quality, process control, and technology adoption to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of the work.
“It’s not like when accreditation is restored, we’re done. We’re going to continue to make sure we set the gold standard,” he said.
“The second part, there isn’t enough trust in the media ecosystem generally. Between advertisers, agencies, platforms, and networks, when you’ve got this kind of change, there becomes a level of mistrust,” he added. “I want to make sure there’s trust in Nielsen, but that Nielsen is helping build trust between the other players. I think a lot of trust comes from transparency. So, making sure we continue to be transparent, and we engage in open, transparent systems.”
