Paramount, Nielsen Reach New Deal After Dispute Over Fees
By Movieguide® Contributor
Paramount and Nielsen ended a four-month standoff Monday with a renewed contract that will allow the media giant access to audience ratings including viewership information from cable, broadcast and streaming platforms.
“We are thrilled to resume our partnership with Paramount, as their leaders continue to build one of the strongest brands in entertainment,” Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s CEO said, adding that the partnership “will be a win for everyone.”
“Paramount and Nielsen are committed to addressing Television’s multiplatform future to the benefit of all of our stakeholders. Karthik and his team continue to meet the needs of our marketplace across all our platforms, and we are incredibly pleased to reinforce and reinvigorate our deal with our longtime partner,” Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks said.
In October, Paramount declined to renew its contract with the marketing research company over complaints over fees.
“Nielsen has severed our long-standing measurement partnership with its unacceptable demands, including substantial price increases that are inconsistent with the realities of a changing industry,” Paramount said at the time in a statement.
In turn, Nielsen, while it still collected audience data on Paramount platforms, withheld access to those numbers that are also essential for advertisers.
Paramount instead used rival media measurement software company VideoAmp for data.
READ MORE: TV VIEWERSHIP BATTLE BREWS BETWEEN NIELSEN AND COMPETITORS
“All of our clients continue to have a full view of the marketplace, as Nielsen continues to measure Paramount networks and streaming services. However, we have removed Paramount data from transactional files. We have made this data available in good faith over the past three months, even without Paramount as a client,” Nielsen said in a statement. “Removing this transactional data is a necessary step to safeguard the investments of our paying partners.”
Meanwhile Nielsen seeks to streamline research in an ever-evolving technological landscape. The Media Rating Council recently accredited the company’s “Big Media + Panel” measurement tool, which combines it’s long-established measurement method that samples about 100,000 viewers and accounting of audience habits on devices which will include about 75 million devices according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rao called the accreditation a “landmark moment for TV ratings.”
“No one else pairs a high quality, representative panel with a data set this large, pulling from smart TVs and set top boxes in more than 45 million homes,” he said. “I believe Big Data + Panel gives the industry the most accurate measurement in the history of TV. We’re grateful to our clients for helping us innovate once again.”
READ MORE: BIG CHANGE COMES TO STREAMING DATA COLLECTION
- Content: +4Share:
- Content: +3