Nielsen has a data processing problem. But it might not be for the reason you would logically think.
As with most things, there are good and bad results, and that includes private equity (PE) firms buying and running companies. In some cases, private equity took over firms that had become bloated and behind the times and made needed changes to bring them back to a competitive state. After a period of time, the PE firm either sold the company or took it public and made a handsome profit. In other cases, things didn’t work out so well and the PE firms lost money, or more accurately, their investors’ money. In both cases, headcount usually took a hit.
After all PE activity over the last three or four decades, there are few firms left that are ripe for PE takeovers. Of course, if a major purpose of your business is taking over companies, well, you have to find companies to buy. Two PE firms, Elliott Investment Management and Brookfield Business Partners, bought Nielsen Media for $28 a share in late 2022 and took it private. This wasn’t the first time Nielsen Media entered the private sphere.
PE firms typically cut costs. Some corporate expenses are unnecessary or even frivolous, but as in any action, don’t expect perfection. I remember when Nielsen acquired Arbitron in 2013, a large number of people were “made redundant,” as the British refer to employees being fired.
A comment made by a Nielsen honcho at the time was that they would probably be right for 80 percent of the people who were let go. The other 20 percent went under the heading of “Oops!”, cold comfort for those folks.
The cuts can go too far, and these days, you must wonder about whether Nielsen’s PE overlords have done just that, based on recent announcements we’ve seen from Nielsen Audio.
Here’s the scoreboard:
· July 25-Monmouth-Ocean, NJ Spring 2025 release was delayed from July 25 to July 29
· July 25-Biloxi-Gulfport-Pascagoula Spring 2025 release was delayed from July 25 to July 29
· August 5-Gainesville-Ocala: Multiple diaries were discredited, requiring a reissue of the Spring 2025 report.
· August 7-New London, CT: Two HD channels were left out, and the subscriber status was wrong for other stations.
· August 7-Grand Rapids: Two AM stations were left out.
· August 7-Omaha-Council Bluffs: Seven entities (stations and streams) were left out and the subscriber status was wrong for four stations.
· August 7-PPM monthlies due to be released on August 11 were delayed as well as Control Panel Reports for all 48 PPM metros.
If you’re keeping score at home, that’s six diary markets and 12 PPM metros that were not delivered on time due to Nielsen errors, ignoring the CPR delay. That’s different from a reissue caused by a security breach or other mistakes on the part of a station or cluster, which is not an error on Nielsen’s part.
Nielsen didn’t explain why these delays occurred, and they’re likely not under any obligation to do so beyond customer service. Yet this is troubling, and in my view, Nielsen owes the industry an explanation. Are these due to poor systems? Clerical errors? Lack of oversight by managers?
Like many companies, Nielsen offshores much of their data processing, mostly to India as best I know. This was going on long before the purchase of Arbitron in 2013, so they should have the systems humming along. Did the company change procedures, vendors, or make other change that caused these delays?
One organization is qualified to review and report on the situation and that’s the Media Rating Council. I don’t work for a member company, so I don’t have access to MRC audit reports or deliberations, but I would suggest that George Ivie and company should ask Nielsen Audio some tough questions (George and his crew know just what to ask).
Further, if the answers aren’t satisfactory, the MRC’s Nielsen auditors (I’m assuming Ernst and Young still handle that duty) should be looking closely at why this happened and the steps that have been taken to prevent further delays and mistakes.
If you’re concerned, what can you do? Diary market subscribers should schedule a review, especially now that you can do it online (see my column from January 6 for more information). If you’re a PPM subscriber, there are Nielsen reports available showing how listening was credited.
If you were in radio around the turn of the century, Fall 1999 to be specific, Arbitron updated its processing software. The company had a “can do” attitude, which is great until “can do” becomes “can’t do” too late in the process. All releases were delayed by three weeks.
The next Arbitron Radio Advisory Council meeting was held in March 2000. Members were not exactly overjoyed by the delay, and I remember all of the Arbitron attendees were asked to leave the room with the exception of the late Steve Morris, our CEO. Word was that he
was told in no uncertain terms that this would never happen again. And it didn’t happen again under his watch.
It’s 25 years later and while an entire survey hasn’t been delayed, the steady flow of announcements, combined with consistent cost-cutting, is unnerving. Here’s hoping the flow doesn’t become a flood.
Let’s meet again next week.
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