Nielsen's Surprise National OOH Measurement Delay Throws Another Wrench Into Upfront Talks

During the ongoing round of upfront talks, media companies were seemingly operating from a defensive position amid economic uncertainty due to Covid-19 and linear ratings continuing to decline—but thought they had an ace up their sleeve. Nielsen had planned to integrate its out-of-home viewing data into the national TV currency this fall, which would have provided roughly a 10% audience boost to many live sports and news events, and, the networks hoped, would help drive up pricing.