Nielsen has discovered something astounding — sometimes, multiple people watch video content together. This concept is called co-viewing. The announcement was made last Tuesday.
Despite the snarky opening, it’s not as momentous as you might think, but it’s worth discussing.
If I understand the press release correctly, Nielsen already collects co-viewing data but has added more using — you guessed it — the PPM. Once again, Nielsen indirectly thanked the radio industry for funding all of the R&D to make PPM the successful video measurement tool that Arbitron thought it would be in the 1990s.
Here’s how their release explains co-viewing: Nielsen “layers in panelists using wearable devices inside of the home.” Those wearable devices were not previously applied to the co-viewing modeling. Nielsen has been introducing more high-tech wearables into the panel. Those “wearable devices” are PPM watches.
What the Pilot Study Showed
Nielsen ran a pilot study during six major live events:
- Super Bowl LX
- The Olympics Closing Ceremony
- The NBA All-Star Game
- The Daytona 500
- The Olympics Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Game
- The State of the Union Address
The data showed an average lift of 4.19% in total viewers. Nielsen will now include this additional co-viewing data beginning with the 2026–27 season. An article in Front Office Sports included a positive quote from a higher-up at one of the most powerful organizations in the United States — not the federal government, the Catholic Church, or even OpenAI, but the Chief Data and Analytics Officer of the National Football League.
Paul Bellew said, “I have to give Nielsen credit. We’ve pushed them really hard about this.” If the NFL likes what you’re doing, you’re in great shape.
Where Radio Fits Into Nielsen’s Priorities
What rubs me the wrong way is a quote in the Nielsen release attributed to Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s CEO. He said, “Our Co-Viewing pilot exemplifies our unwavering commitment to providing the most accurate measurement for our clients during these dynamic times of change. In the past year alone, we’ve made continued improvements to our ratings to better reflect the power of live TV in reaching massive audiences.”
Any press release includes some level of puffery. However, if anyone in radio believes Nielsen has an “unwavering commitment to providing the most accurate measurement” with respect to radio and audio, please drop me a note. Nielsen Audio employees are excluded from that request.
All I’ve seen for radio and audio is a software tweak. They’ve changed the definition of a quarter hour from five minutes to three — and likely down to one minute soon. Then consider the online diary, which has been worked on in fits and starts since at least 2006. I’ve been told this isn’t a money-saving move for Nielsen Audio. However, that doesn’t ring true to me after all my years in the business.
Questioning Radio’s Importance
Meanwhile, the company is doing its best to show love for the radio industry by fighting with Cumulus. The court is specifically reviewing whether Cumulus must buy local Nielsen data in all of their markets in order to purchase Nationwide for Westwood One.
I can’t say whether Nielsen’s “Network Policy” is what drove Cumulus back to bankruptcy court for a second time in less than a decade. However, it had to be a contributing factor. Perhaps the two parties could have worked something out. The huge amounts both sides are paying to white-shoe law firms could have been used for more productive purposes.
Admittedly, Nielsen is in a competitive situation with respect to TV estimates, and there’s big money at stake. If a competitor were to somehow dethrone Nielsen as the dominant national TV ratings supplier, the company would be in serious trouble. The private equity owners would be in a difficult position. We’re already seeing the strain of Nielsen Audio’s pricing, based on the assertion in a recent Cumulus filing in their court battle that the company couldn’t justify the cost of Nielsen data in more than half of their local markets.
I have no idea what financial criteria the company used. Considering the rumored Nielsen price hikes, attention, and apparent investment given to the TV side of the business, it appears the Cumulus finance team may have been right.
If Karthik Rao’s quote is something more than puffery, he and his company need to show some love to the radio side of Nielsen’s business.
Let’s meet again next week.
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