Nielsen Changes 'Really Negative' for Sports, Says NFL

In the US, the NFL has expressed concerns about Nielsen's forthcoming methodological changes, claiming they are 'overly rushed'. Nielsen says it has worked closely with clients, sports leagues and industry regulators to develop the new approaches and the majority support them.

Paul Ballew, SVP of Data and Analytics at the American football league body, told Sports news site www.frontofficesports.com the changes would leave measurement for the upcoming season 'muddled', adding: 'It's been a real struggle with Nielsen, and these latest changes raise even more questions for us.'

Nielsen's changes, announced in yesterday's DRNO, include advancements in the areas of integrated weighting and measurement of co-viewing, two areas the NFP finds particularly hard to swallow. According to Front Office Sports (FOS), 'The league has long felt that its audiences, though by far the largest in U.S. television, were still being undercounted amid the hefty group-watching inherent to football fandom.' Ballew said the results seen so far by the NFL were 'really negative for us, and for sports overall,' and that inevitably the organisation will be looking harder at possible alternatives to Nielsen, the longstanding currency in the industry.

The company has replied to the objections, telling FOS, 'Nielsen is delivering the most accurate TV measurement ever, especially when it comes to live sports. We have worked closely with clients, sports leagues, and industry regulators to constantly enhance our methodologies. That includes the introduction of Big Data + Panel, the expansion of our Out of Home measurement and a pilot test of co-viewing updates, which are all successful examples of collaboration that lead into the enhancements. The majority of our clients support these changes and this preseason timeline.'

Web sites: www.nielsen.com and www.nfl.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.