Nielsen CEO Tells Clients Paramount Seeks ‘Nearly 50%’ Price Cut in Weeks-Long Measurement Battle

As a long-time follower of the media industry, I find myself caught between the titans of Paramount Global and Nielsen, whose latest spat has turned into a full-blown standoff. With decades of experience under my belt, I’ve seen many a battle between content creators and measurement giants, but this one feels different.

The dispute between Paramount Global and measurement titan Nielsen is quickly escalating into a verbal conflict.

In an email to clients earlier this week, Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao stated that Paramount has been insisting on a significant decrease, approximately 50%, in the cost of our service during ongoing negotiations that have so far been unsuccessful. This disagreement has led to a blackout lasting several weeks, preventing the use of Nielsen ratings for properties belonging to Paramount, such as CBS, Comedy Central, and Paramount Network.

Paramount, currently reducing its expenses by $500 million, proposes that it should not be charged more by Nielsen if the fees exceed the income generated from television ratings through advertisements. Similar to many other competitors, Paramount invests a substantial amount in Nielsen’s measurement services annually.

George Cheeks, co-CEO of Paramount, stated during a recent call with investors that the focus isn’t solely on affordability but rather securing the necessary value in return for what is paid. He emphasized that this perspective should be viewed within the context of the media industry, considering the decline and shift from linear audiences, particularly basic cable linear, to streaming platforms. This transformation will influence how they approach spending, as demonstrated by his example: it would be inappropriate for the Nielsen fee for certain networks to surpass the actual ad revenue those networks generate.

It’s been indicated that Paramount executives view Nielsen’s current proposals as potentially carrying substantial price hikes over the duration of any agreement. Since Paramount makes large payments, any increases would probably be considerable, according to someone with knowledge of the situation.

Nielsen’s CEO believes that Paramount is seeking preferential treatment at the expense of other clients. According to Rao, as stated in a letter sent on Monday (and reviewed by EbMaster), it is not feasible to significantly reduce the value of our services simply because of the unique circumstances and requests of one client. As an industry solution, maintaining price consistency is crucial for the role we play in the market.

Both Paramount and Nielsen declined to make executives available for comment

Since October 1st, Paramount has been unable to utilize Nielsen measurements. Instead, they have been relying on VideoAmp, an alternative provider of audience measurement services that has formed partnerships with various networks and buyers in recent times. Many large purchasing agencies view VideoAmp as a possible replacement for Nielsen’s tabulations.

Despite the ongoing dispute, Paramount has been unable to provide comparable audience metrics to its competitors during this timeframe. Notably, there have been no statements regarding Nielsen ratings associated with any of their top-viewed programming, such as NFL games broadcast on CBS every Sunday, the ratings for “60 Minutes” on CBS News, or the October debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz hosted by CBS News.

This week, Paramount shared audience size data from VideoAmp regarding the debut of a new season for its popular series “Yellowstone.” Based on these statistics, the initial episode attracted an average of 16.4 million viewers across all networks that aired it simultaneously and repeat showings on Sunday night. However, Nielsen’s calculations suggest around 13.62 million viewers tuned in to watch the program on Paramount Network, CBS, and some other cable networks owned by Paramount. Advertisers and media buyers who work with Nielsen can view ratings for Paramount shows and may scrutinize the variations between the two measurement companies’ findings.

VideoAmp’s technology has earned trust from Paramount, as reported by a source familiar with the situation. The company currently has partnerships with numerous networks and buying agencies, and is collaborating with the Media Rating Council, a council that oversees different measurement techniques in the industry, to secure industry endorsement. It was also mentioned that Nielsen offers several measurement services that are yet to receive approval from the MRC.

At issue is a long-running complaint from TV networks that Nielsen isn’t measuring the many different audiences for their programming as well as it should. As smartphones, mobile tablets and broadband-connected TV’s gain more consumer acceptance, audiences are increasingly able to stream their TV favorites in on-demand fashion, making the task of counting them exponentially more difficult. TV networks have long based their advertising rates on Nielsen’s measure of linear TV audiences, which have slipped as consumers embraced Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and other streaming and on-demand options.

Over the past few months, Nielsen has experienced some positive advancements within the marketplace. It was recently granted accreditation, allowing it to utilize media companies’ proprietary first-party data in audience measurements. Already, Amazon Prime Video is considering incorporating this feature into its ratings for “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts on NFL streams.

The CEO of Nielsen stated that they aren’t intending to burden clients with excessive price hikes, but instead, their goal is to ensure a fair compensation for the superior quality of their services. They argue that their proposal to Paramount is entirely reasonable and aligns appropriately with the worth of the services they provide.

The executive expressed optimism, stating, “I’m hoping we can strike an agreement with Paramount Global.” However, as the negotiations drag on, finding common ground could become increasingly challenging.

2024-11-14 23:47

Nielsen CEO Tells Clients Paramount Seeks ‘Nearly 50%’ Price Cut in Weeks-Long Measurement Battle

Read More

Minority Mindset