Trouble’s been brewing in the ratings world this month, as Nielsen made headlines for delaying the release of its monthly Gauge viewership report for February, with reports citing frustration from streamers amid changes to its methodology. With the February report officially delayed until April, the backlash is now extending across the TV Industry.
But let’s start at the beginning. Whispers of concerns began in early March as Nielsen prepared to include new data from the Advertising Research Foundation in its monthly Gauge reports, a snapshot of the state of the TV industry and how viewing is distributed among streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix and Disney+ and the linear networks.
The ARF’s DASH survey, which is conducted in partnership with the polling firm NORC and accredited by the Media Rating Council, captures information from every television in a single home, accounts for video-capable mobile devices and collects data on both individual and co-viewing behaviors.
But rather than concerns regarding the new methodology itself, the uproar began when Nielsen gave its clients a heads up that the new data would result in a viewership lift for cable and broadcast networks and a decline for streaming in the month of February. Given that the shift would break the narrative of streaming’s domination, the streamers expressed concerns with the results and got the company to delay inclusion of its most-up to date data — isolating its linear-focused clients in the process.
The controversy illustrates the difficult position Nielsen found itself in — while the data measurement company appeased streamers who sounded alarm bells at the prospect of not seeing streaming dominate over linear, the delay of using its most accurate viewership source has caused consternation across the TV industry. It also shows the influence of The Gauge, which serves as a temperature check on the state of the industry and is regularly covered by news organizations, including TheWrap.
No matter what it did, Nielsen seemed to make matters worse. The concerns from streamers prompted the firm to delay the release of the February report by one week to March 24, explaining in a statement that while the change was communicated to clients in product notifications, webinars and MRC meetings, “some clients requested additional data around DASH implementation” that they would provide.
That delay wasn’t enough. By March 20, Nielsen notified clients that it would be further pushing back both its the Gauge and Media Distributor Gauge reports until April as it reversed course on the new methodology rollout and paused it until the fall — aligning with its “additional promised improvements to our currency products.”
Citing the decision as an effort to “minimize trend breaks,” a letter from Nielsen’s chief client officer Peter Naylor to clients acknowledged, “We understand that there are diverging opinions on this among our broad client base, but we believe this is the best and least disruptive path for the industry.”
In the letter, Naylor said the Nielsen team”regret[ted]” not giving clients more of a heads up about the impact that adding this dataset would have on the public Gauge report.
While the delay to fall seems to have appeased the streamers, Sean Cunningham, president and CEO of the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), called out the delays as “indefensible manipulations that run completely counter to the role of a fair and neutral measurement and currency data provider,” suggesting the delay both “cheerleads” a “YouTube boom/TV gloom” as well as “interference in markets.”
Though public criticisms have been limited to the VAB, patience seems to be thin on the linear side, which would’ve benefitted from the additional data.
Nielsen quickly clapped back, noting that the VAB membership “includes Nielsen’s competitors and a subset of the ad-supported video industry.” More importantly, the company clarified that the data inclusion is already a part of Nielsen’s paid reports to clients as of February and the pause is only for the Gauge, which is not used by the ad industry.
While the pause to the rollout of the Gauge delayed the inevitable downtick for streaming, it also ensured that the new methodology is not seen on the Gauge from February through July, meaning that tallies for some of the year’s biggest TV events — including the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics — won’t include the most up to date data — especially regarding linear viewership, potentially crafting tension among the broadcast and cable community.
BTS live Netflix show thrives
“BTS The Comeback Live: Arirang” scored 18.4 million global viewers, according to live-plus-one-day numbers from Netflix first party data. The show tallied 13.1 million views during the week of March 16, jumping to the top of Netflix’s most-watched non-English shows list for the week.
“Peaky Blinders” movie scores impressive debut
Also landing atop Netflix’s most-watched lists was “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,” which scored 25.3 million views during the week of March 16. The movie landed above “War Machine,” which came in the No. 2 spot with 18 million views.
Future Today hits streaming milestone
Future Today, which owns Fawesome, HappyKids and iFood.tv, reported impressive growth at the IAB NewFronts with its channels reaching more than 75 million U.S. households and delivering over 2 billion monthly impressions, driving more than 850 million hours of viewing annually.
