Nielsen Also Lowballed Local TV Ratings During Covid-19, Audit Finds

A month after Nielsen confirmed that it had undercounted national television audiences by up to 6% during the Covid-19 pandemic, a third-party auditing firm has found that similar pandemic defects affected local television audience metrics. The Media Rating Council, the nonprofit organization that audits Nielsen ratings, conducted an analysis of local television ratings across Nielsen’s 56 local metered markets and found “an overall understatement of reported viewing estimates” both in terms of overall household viewing data and in the 25-54 age demographic, it reported Tuesday. The extent of the errant data depends on the size of the market, the MRC reported, but some of the audience estimates in the 25-54 age demographic showed inconsistencies of as much as 9%. The overall findings were similar to the extent of the lowballing that the MRC previously confirmed had affected national TV audience measurement, which cast a pall on this year’s upfront season as marketers and networks scrambled to lock in rates reliant in some cases on Nielsen data. “The general directionality of the differences was toward understatement, similar to what was seen in the earlier national analyses,” the MRC reported Tuesday. Another blow to Nielsen The findings are another blow to Nielsen, which has been grappling with the fallout from its errant national audience figures for months. In the coming days, Nielsen will make more detailed data available to local markets to apply the data to their own market size to help correct some of the audience figures, the MRC said. Nielsen and the MRC will also conduct further analyses to provide additional data on how its viewing estimates may have been affected and provide updates to how it is rectifying its panel. A spokesperson for Nielsen did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Update: In a statement to Adweek Wednesday afternoon, Nielsen acknowledged that its analysis with the MRC found audience discrepancies, but said that 90% of major local stations and cable networks saw no more than a 0.05 change in audience figures, and that the average difference between reported and simulated audiences in the 25-54 demo was no higher than 3.9% in the most-affected markets. The measurement firm continues to work on returning to its pre-Covid maintenance procedures to help shore up its panel, the firm said. “Since early March 2021, Nielsen has been actively applying key learnings in the field as we return to pre-COVID maintenance procedures,” Nielsen said in the statement. “Our first step was to identify the homes that were in most need of a maintenance visit. As of June 4, we have addressed 100% of the homes with maintenance needs. As we continue to execute our panel recovery strategy, we are excited to help the industry return to normal following this unprecedented pandemic.” As with the national TV audience measurement undercount, which was confirmed in May, the underestimated local TV audiences are the result of how Nielsen maintained—or, in some cases, didn’t maintain—its crucial in-home panel throughout the pandemic. Covid-19 protocols and uncertainty about safety measures in the early days of the pandemic forced the measurement company to halt in-home maintenance visits, which normally help ensure the integrity of the data trickling in from in-home panels. As a result, Nielsen’s panel size shrunk by about 20%, and some industry groups and networks saw other data inconsistencies that made them question whether the data was sound. Nielsen, which has since resumed in-home visits, had previously defended its data as accurate, before backtracking in May and providing additional guidance at the national level. Adweek will discuss this Nielsen news with Video Advertising Bureau president and CEO Sean Cunningham and othersWednesday afternoon at Adweek’s inaugural Elevate: TV and Video Measurement event. WarnerMedia First Media Company to Join Comscore’s Addressable TV Measurement Trial