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Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
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Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen ratings, an audience measurement system of television viewership that has long been the deciding factor in canceling or renewing television shows by television networks. As of August 2024, it is the primary part of Nielsen Holdings.

Key Information

NMR began as a division of ACNielsen, a marketing research firm founded in 1923. In 1996, NMR was split off into an independent company, and in 1999, it was purchased by the Dutch conglomerate VNU. In 2001, VNU also purchased ACNielsen, bringing both companies under the same corporate umbrella for years.[1] NMR is also a sister company to Nielsen//NetRatings, which measures Internet and digital media audiences. VNU was reorganized and renamed the Nielsen Company in 2007. NMR was separated again from NielsenIQ (the former ACNielsen) in 2021.[2][3]

History

[edit]

The Nielsen TV ratings have been produced in the United States since the 1950–51 television season, statistically measuring which programs are watched by segments of the American population. The most well-known portion is the "diary". During the four "sweeps" months of February, May, July and November, Nielsen interviewers in Oldsmar, Florida, and Radcliff, Kentucky, ask homes to fill out a one-week diary of the programs watched in their household.[4][5]

The Nielsen sample included about 1,700 homes with audiometers and a rotating group of nearly 850 diary respondents by the early 1980s. Nielsen launched its Nielsen Homevideo Index (NHI) in 1980 to measure cable, pay cable, and VCRs; the NHI began offering daily cable ratings in 1982, with steady expansions made into the mid-2000s. In 2003, Nielsen began adjusting its counting methods and emphasized its sample[clarification needed] in response to demographic changes and requests from some industry sectors. Nielsen introduced[timeframe?] its automated Local People Meter (LPM) technology in New York and Los Angeles. The LPM enhanced Nielsen's measurement method by shifting from an active, diary-based system to a passive, meter-monitored one. The LPM accurately measures local-level markets instead of relying on a national sample. While diary-based surveys focused on quarterly sweeps, the industry has shifted towards year-round measurement thanks to the automated LPM system.

In 1996, Nielsen Media Research began tracking computer, internet, and video game usage through telephone surveys.[6] Nielsen Media Research is a sister company to Nielsen NetRatings, which measures internet and digital media audiences l telephone and internet surveys, and Nielsen BuzzMetrics, which measures consumer-generated media. Nielsen also conducts market research for the film industry through National Research Group (NRG).

In September 2018, Nielsen acquired SuperData Research, an industry analysis firm that tracks viewing habits within the video game and esports spaces, which Nielsen planned to expand into.[7] Later, in April 2021, Nielsen stated it would close SuperData and merge its analysis and tracking into Nielsen Sports.[8]

In September 2020, Nielsen began compiling a weekly top 10 list of most-watched shows on streaming platforms.[9]

After the divestiture of NielsenIQ (the former ACNielsen consumer research business) in 2021, Nielsen became solely a media audience measurement and analytics firm.[10][11]

Nielsen TV ratings

[edit]

Nielsen TV ratings (commonly referred to as Nielsen ratings) are the audience measurement systems operated by Nielsen Media Research that seek to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States using a rating system. Nielsen lost accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC) in 2022 due to inaccurate data reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic,[12] but regained it in April 2023.[13]

Nielsen Media Research was founded by Arthur C. Nielsen, a market analyst who began his career in the 1920s with marketing research and performance analysis. The company subsequently expanded into radio market analysis in the late 1930s, culminating in the Nielsen Radio Index in 1942,[14] which was meant to provide statistics as to the markets of radio shows. The first Nielsen ratings for radio programs were released the first week of December 1947. They measured the top 20 programs in four areas: total audience, average audience, cumulative audience, and homes per dollar spent for time and talent.[15]

In 1950, Nielsen then moved to television, developing a rating system using the methods he and his company had developed for radio. That method became the primary source of audience measurement information in the American television industry. In September 2020, Nielsen began compiling a weekly Top 10 list of most-watched shows on streaming platforms.

Measuring ratings

[edit]

The data collection methods used to generate Nielsen TV ratings included:

  • The Audimeter (audience meter) was used from 1950 during the early days of television broadcasting. It attached to a television and recorded the channels viewed, onto a 16mm film cartridge that was mailed weekly to company headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, and used to generate the Nielsen Television Index. It was based on an earlier Audimeter that had been developed for the 1942 Nielsen Radio Index. Randomly selected "Nielsen families" homes were enticed to accept the Audimeter by including free TV repair service provided by TV Index reps, which was a valuable commodity when vacuum tube televisions predominated.[16][14]
  • Paper "viewer diaries", in which a household recruited by the company self-recorded its viewing or listening habits. This adjunct Nielsen Station Index Service offered since 1953 targeted various demographics, particularly for local programming. The resulting statistical models provided a report of the audiences of any given show, network, and programming hour. The company phased out this methodology as electronic data collection became more sophisticated. As of June 28, 2018, the Nielsen paper TV diary rating service was retired.[17]
  • In 1971, the Storage Instantaneous Audimeter allowed electronically recorded program viewing history to be forwarded to Nielsen via a telephone line, making overnight ratings possible.[14]
  • The upgraded People Meter, introduced in 1987, records individual viewing habits of the home and transmits the data nightly to Nielsen through a telephone line. This system is designed to allow market researchers to study television viewing on a minute-to-minute basis, recording when viewers change channels or turn off their television.[14]
  • Nielsen replaced People Meters with Portable People Meters (PPM), which collects the data of individual household members through the use of separate login credentials and allows the company to separate household viewing information into diverse demographic groups.

Changing systems of viewing have impacted Nielsen's methods of market research. In 2005, Nielsen began measuring the usage of digital video recording devices (DVRs) such as TiVos. Initial results indicated that time-shifted viewing (i.e., programs that are watched after the networks have aired them) would significantly impact television ratings. A year later, the networks were not factoring these new results into their ad rates because of advertisers' resistance.[18]

In July 2017, Nielsen announced that it would include select programs from subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) services Hulu and YouTube TV in its Digital in TV Ratings system.[19] Since about October 2017, Nielsen also began to track select programs from Netflix. Partnering distributors insert a "tag" into the program to be distributed on these services, which Nielsen then tracks through its meters system. Partnering distributors are able to determine if these ratings can be released publicly or not.[20]

Ratings/share and total viewers

[edit]

The most commonly cited Nielsen results are reported in two measurements: ratings points and share, usually reported as: "ratings points/share". There were 119.6 million TV homes in the United States for the 2017–18 TV season (Nielsen's National Television Household Universe, or Households Using Television, HUT).[21] Nielsen re-estimates the number of television-equipped households each August for the upcoming television season.[22]

The rating of a program is a fraction of the HUT. It is calculated as RTG = HUT × SHARE where HUT (or PUT when measuring demos) is Homes Using Television and SHARE is the percentage of TV sets in use which are tuned to a particular show.

Share is the percentage of television sets in use, Households Using Television (HUT) or Persons Using Television (PUT) who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time.[23][24] For example, Nielsen may report a show as receiving a 4.4/8 during its broadcast; this would mean that they estimate that 4.4% of all television-equipped households (that is to say, homes with a TV, not total number of people) were tuned in to that program, while 8% of households that were watching TV at that time were watching the specific program.[25]

Because ratings are based on samples, it is possible for shows to get a 0.0 rating, despite having an audience; CNBC's talk show McEnroe was one notable example.[26] Another example is The CW show, CW Now, which received two 0.0 ratings in the same season. In 2014, Nielsen reported that American viewership of live television (totaling on average four hours and 32 minutes per day) had dropped 12 minutes per day compared to the year before. The CW got another 0.0 rating for its broadcast of the 1st Critics Choice Super Awards. Nielsen reported several reasons for the shift away from live television: increased viewership of time-shifted television (mainly through DVRs) and viewership of internet video (clips from video sharing websites and streams of full-length television shows).[27]

Viewer location: out of home, on the go

[edit]

In 2007, Nielsen began to release data that reflected out-of-home/not via home TV viewing. [28] This was a follow-up to their added inclusiveness regarding family members who are dorming in college.[29]

Demographics

[edit]

Since specific demographics influence advertising rates, Nielsen provides statistics by categories including age, sex, race, economic class, and area. For example, an advertiser might look for younger viewers, for older or wealthier audiences, or for women rather than men.

In general, the number of viewers within the 18–49 age range is more important than the total number of viewers.[30][31] According to Advertising Age, during the 2007–08 season, ABC was able to charge $419,000 per commercial sold during its medical drama Grey's Anatomy, compared to only $248,000 for a commercial during CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, despite CSI having almost five million more viewers overall.[32] Because of its strength in young "demos" (demographic groups), NBC was able to charge almost three times as much for a commercial during Friends as CBS charged for Murder, She Wrote, even though the two series had a similar amount of total viewership during the two seasons they were on the air concurrently.[30] Glee (on Fox) and The Office (on NBC) drew fewer total viewers than NCIS (on CBS) during the 2009–10 season, but earned an average of $272,694 and $213,617 respectively, compared to $150,708 for NCIS.[33]

Commercial ratings

[edit]

Nielsen also provides viewership data calculated as the average viewership for only the commercial time within the program. These "Commercial Ratings" first became available on May 31, 2007. Additionally, Nielsen provides different "streams" of this data in order to take into consideration delayed viewing (DVR) data, at any interval up to seven days.[34] C3 (Live + 3) was the metric launched in 2007, and refers to the ratings for average commercial minutes in live programming plus total playback by digital video recorder up to three days after.[35] In 2009, dissatisfaction with Nielsen's effectiveness resulted in formation of the Council for Innovative Media Measurement by more than six major broadcast media companies.[36]

By the end of 2012, some television executives wanted to see C7 (Live + 7), ratings for live plus seven days, with CBS Corporation chief executive officer Les Moonves making the claim C7 made ratings increase by 30%.[37]

Sweeps

[edit]
"Sweeps" redirects here. For other uses, see Sweeps (disambiguation).

The American television measurement by Nielsen is based on three different methodological approaches. In the 25 TV markets with the highest sales (e.g. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver), the Local People Meter (LPM) is measured. Individuals register individually; the measurement is carried out on 365 days over 24 hours.[38] The SET Meter (Diary & Electronic) is used in 31 smaller markets (such as Nashville, Salt Lake City). In four sweeps in February, May, July, and November, target group data are collected with the diary and validated with the data of the devices (TV set on/off) in the participating households.[38] In the 154 TV markets with the lowest sales (e. g. Harrisburg, PA or Honolulu) the use of TV is only recorded using a diary survey.

Each year until 2018, Nielsen processed approximately two million paper diaries from households across the United States,[39][17] for November, February, May, and July—also known as the "sweeps" rating periods.[40] The term "sweeps" dates from 1954, when Nielsen collected diaries from households in the Eastern United States first; from there they would "sweep" west.[41][42] Seven-day diaries (or eight-day diaries in homes with DVRs) were mailed to homes to keep a tally of what was watched on each television set and by whom. Over the course of a sweeps period, diaries were mailed to a new panel of homes each week. At the end of the month, all of the viewing data from the individual weeks was aggregated. One exception to the normal sweeps periods occurred in 2008–09 when the February sweeps period was moved to March to accommodate the digital television transition, which was scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009. The transition date was later moved to June 12, but Nielsen kept the sweeps period in March that year rather than moving it again.

This local viewing information provides a basis for program scheduling and advertising decisions for local television stations, cable systems, and advertisers. Typically, the November, February, and May sweeps are considered more important; nevertheless, the July sweeps can have a local impact regarding personnel.[40]

In some mid-size markets, diaries provide viewer information for up to two additional "sweeps" months (October and January).

Nielsen sweeps periods
Season November February May July
2016–2017 October 27 – November 23, 2016 February 2 – March 1, 2017[43] April 27 – May 24, 2017 June 29 – July 26, 2017
2017–2018 October 26 – November 22, 2017 February 1–28, 2018 April 26 – May 23, 2018 June 28 – July 25, 2018
2018–2019 October 25 – November 21, 2018 January 31 – February 27, 2019 April 25 – May 22, 2019 June 27 – July 24, 2019
2019–2020 October 31 – November 27, 2019 January 30 – February 26, 2020 April 23 – May 20, 2020 June 25 – July 22, 2020

Criticism of ratings systems

[edit]

There is some public critique regarding accuracy and potential bias within Nielsen's rating system, including some concerns that the Nielsen ratings system is rapidly becoming outdated due to new technology such as smartphones, DVRs, tablet computers and Internet streaming services as preferred or alternative methods for television viewing.[44] In June 2006, however, Nielsen announced a plan to revamp its entire methodology to include all types of media viewing in its sample.[45] Since viewers are aware of being part of the Nielsen sample, it can lead to response bias in recording and viewing habits. Audience counts gathered by the self-reporting diary methodology are sometimes higher than those gathered by the electronic meters, eliminating any response bias.[46][47]

Another criticism of the measuring system itself is that it is not random. A small fraction of the population is selected, and only those accepted are used as the sample size. In many local areas during the 1990s, the difference between a rating that kept a show on the air and one that would cancel it was so small as to be statistically insignificant. Yet, the show with the higher rating would survive.[48] In addition, the Nielsen ratings encouraged a strong push for demographic measurements. This caused problems with households with multiple television sets or households where viewers would enter the simpler codes (usually their child's), raising questions about the demographic data quality.[48] The situation further deteriorated as the popularity of cable television increased the number of viewable networks to the extent that the margin of error has increased because the sampling sizes are too small.[48][49][50] Compounding matters is that of the sample data that is collected, advertisers will not pay for time shifted programs (those that are recorded for replay at a different time),[51] rendering the "raw" numbers useless from a statistical point of view. In 2013, it was noted that Internet streams of television programs were still not counted because they had either no ads (such as Netflix) or totally different advertising (such as Hulu) than their television counterparts, effectively skewing the raw data on a show's popularity.[52]

A related criticism of the Nielsen rating system is its lack of a system for measuring television audiences outside homes, such as college dormitories, transport terminals, bars, prisons and other public places where television is frequently viewed, often by large numbers of people in a common setting. In 2005, Nielsen announced plans to incorporate viewing by away-from-home college students into its sample. Internet television viewing is another rapidly growing market for which Nielsen ratings fail to account for viewers. iTunes, Hulu, YouTube, and some of the networks' own websites (such as ABC.com and CBS.com) provide full-length web-based programming, either subscription-based or ad-supported. Though websites can already track a site's popularity and the referring page, they cannot track viewer demographics. To both track this and expand their market research offerings, Nielsen purchased NetRatings in 2007.[53] However, as noted in a February 2012 New York Times article, the computer and mobile streams of a program are counted separately from the standard television broadcasts, further degrading the overall quality of the sampling data. As a result, there was no way for NBC to tell if there was any overlap between the roughly 111.3 million traditional television viewers[54][55] and 2.1 million live stream viewers of Super Bowl XLVII.[56]

Responding to the criticism regarding accusations by several media executives (including Viacom CEO Phillippe Dauman and former Fox Entertainment Group chief operating officer Chase Carey) that it failed to count viewers watching television programs on digital platforms, Nielsen executive vice president of global product leadership Megan Clarken stated in an April 2015 summit by the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement that the company can count digital viewers in audience and demographic reports but is unable to do so under the current set of rules devised by networks and advertising industries last revised in 2006. As such, Nielsen can only count viewership for television-originated broadcasts, and must exclude viewers who watch programs on digital platforms if the program does not have an identical advertising load or a linear watermark.[57]

After Nielsen took over the contract for producing data on Irish advertising in 2009, agencies said that they were "disastrous" and claimed that the information produced by them is too inaccurate to be trusted by them or their clients.[58]

In 2004, News Corporation retained the services of public relations firm Glover Park to launch a campaign aimed at delaying Nielsen's plan to replace its aging household electronic data collection methodology in larger local markets with its newer electronic People Meter system. The advocates in the public relations campaign claimed that data derived from the newer People Meter system represented a bias toward underreporting minority viewing, leading to a de facto discrimination in employment against minority actors and writers. However, Nielsen countered the campaign[59] by revealing its sample composition counts. According to Nielsen Media Research's sample composition counts, as of November 2004, nationwide, African American households using People Meters represented 6.7% of the Nielsen sample, compared to 6.0% in the general population. Latino households represent 5.7% of the Nielsen sample, compared to 5.0% in the general population. By October 2006, News Corporation and Nielsen settled, with Nielsen agreeing to spend an additional $50 million to ensure that minority viewing was not being underreported by the new electronic people meter system.[60]

In 2011, CBS and Nielsen proposed a model consisting of six viewer segments, which according to their empirical research,[citation needed] are more relevant for advertisers than older models based on gender and age. The segments are based on user behavior, motivations, and psychographics. It is argued that the model can increase reaching the desired audience and message recall and advertisement likeability.[61]

Advent of streaming

[edit]

In September 2020, Nielsen began releasing a weekly list of top 10 television shows most watched on streaming platforms or subscription video on demand (SVOD).[62][63]

In 2021, Nielsen announced Nielsen Streaming Video Ratings, a service meant to measure total viewership and audience demographics on streaming platforms. This service is powered by Nielsen's NPOWER audience insights platform, which allows studios, platforms, and advertisers to know which demographics are interacting with content.[64]

Top-rated programs in the United States

[edit]
Main articles: List of most-watched television broadcasts and List of most watched television broadcasts in the United States

The table below lists television series in the United States with the highest average household Nielsen rating for each television season.[65][66][67][68][69]

Season Live Live + 3 DVR Live + 7 DVR
Show Network Households
(in millions) 		Viewers
(in millions) 		Show Network Viewers
(in millions) 		Show Network Viewers
(in millions)
1950s
1950–1951 Texaco Star Theatre NBC 6.28[70] Unknown — — — — — —
1951–1952 Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts CBS 8.23[71] Unknown — — — — — —
1952–1953 I Love Lucy 13.73[72] Unknown — — — — — —
1953–1954 15.29[73] Unknown — — — — — —
1954–1955 15.14[74] Unknown — — — — — —
1955–1956 The $64,000 Question 16.58[75] Unknown — — — — — —
1956–1957 I Love Lucy 17.00[76] Unknown — — — — — —
1957–1958 Gunsmoke 18.07[77] Unknown — — — — — —
1958–1959 17.40[78] Unknown — — — — — —
1959–1960 18.44[79] Unknown — — — — — —
1960s
1960–1961 Gunsmoke CBS 17.61[80] Unknown — — — — — —
1961–1962 Wagon Train NBC 15.59[81] Unknown — — — — — —
1962–1963 The Beverly Hillbillies CBS 18.11[82] Unknown — — — — — —
1963–1964 20.18[83] Unknown — — — — — —
1964–1965 Bonanza NBC 19.13[84] Unknown — — — — — —
1965–1966 17.12[85] Unknown — — — — — —
1966–1967 16.04[86] Unknown — — — — — —
1967–1968 The Andy Griffith Show CBS 15.64[87] Unknown — — — — — —
1968–1969 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In NBC 18.52[88] Unknown — — — — — —
1969–1970 15.39[89] Unknown — — — — — —
1970s
1970–1971 Marcus Welby, M.D. ABC 17.79[90] Unknown — — — — — —
1971–1972 All in the Family CBS 21.11[91] Unknown — — — — — —
1972–1973 21.58[92] Unknown — — — — — —
1973–1974 20.65[93] Unknown — — — — — —
1974–1975 20.69[94] Unknown — — — — — —
1975–1976 20.95[95] Unknown — — — — — —
1976–1977 Happy Days ABC 22.43[96] Unknown — — — — — —
1977–1978 Laverne & Shirley 23.04[97] Unknown — — — — — —
1978–1979 22.72[98] Unknown — — — — — —
1979–1980 60 Minutes CBS 21.67[99] Unknown — — — — — —
1980s
1980–1981 Dallas CBS 27.57[100] Unknown — — — — — —
1981–1982 23.15[101] Unknown — — — — — —
1982–1983 60 Minutes 21.24[102] Unknown — — — — — —
1983–1984 Dallas 21.54[103] Unknown — — — — — —
1984–1985 Dynasty ABC 21.23[104] Unknown — — — — — —
1985–1986 The Cosby Show NBC 28.95[105] Unknown — — — — — —
1986–1987 30.50[106] Unknown — — — — — —
1987–1988 Unknown Unknown — — — — — —
1988–1989 23.14[107] Unknown — — — — — —
1989–1990 21.28[108] Unknown — — — — — —
Roseanne ABC Unknown — — — — — —
1990s
1990–1991 Cheers NBC 19.83[109] Unknown — — — — — —
1991–1992 60 Minutes CBS 20.17[110] Unknown — — — — — —
1992–1993 20.39[111] Unknown — — — — — —
1993–1994 19.69[112] Unknown — — — — — —
1994–1995 Seinfeld NBC 19.65[113] Unknown — — — — — —
1995–1996 ER 21.10[114] Unknown — — — — — —
1996–1997 20.56[115] 30.79[116] — — — — — —
1997–1998 Seinfeld 21.27[115] 34.10[117] — — — — — —
1998–1999 ER 17.69[118] 25.40[119] — — — — — —
1999–2000 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Tues) ABC Unknown 28.53[120] — — — — — —
2000s
2000–2001 Survivor CBS Unknown 29.80[121] — — — — — —
2001–2002 Friends NBC Unknown 24.50[122] — — — — — —
2002–2003 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CBS Unknown 26.12[123] — — — — — —
2003–2004 American Idol (Tues) Fox Unknown 25.73[124] — — — — — —
2004–2005 Unknown 27.32[125] — — — — — —
2005–2006 Unknown 31.17[126] — — — — — —
2006–2007 American Idol (Wed) Unknown 30.58[127] — — — — — —
2007–2008 American Idol (Tues) Unknown 28.80[128] — — — — — —
2008–2009 American Idol (Wed) Unknown 25.53[129] — — — American Idol (Wed) Fox 26.88[129]
2009–2010 American Idol (Tues) Unknown 22.97[130] — — — American Idol (Tues) 24.71[131]
2010s
2010–2011 American Idol (Wed) Fox Unknown 23.95[132] — — — American Idol (Wed) Fox 26.20[132]
2011–2012 NBC Sunday Night Football NBC Unknown Unknown — — — NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 20.74[133]
2012–2013 Unknown Unknown — — — NCIS[a] CBS 21.34[135]
2013–2014 Unknown 21.42[136] — — — The Big Bang Theory 23.10[136]
2014–2015 Unknown 20.69[137] — — — NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 20.81[137]
2015–2016 Unknown 21.30[138] NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 21.38[139] 21.39[140]
2016–2017 Unknown 19.63[141] 19.73[142] 19.75[143]
2017–2018 Unknown 17.58[144] Roseanne ABC 18.21[145] Roseanne ABC 19.96[146]
2018–2019 Unknown 18.80[147] NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 18.92[147] NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 18.94[148]
2019–2020 Unknown 19.96[149] — — — 20.09[150]
2020s
2020–2021 — — — — — — — NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 16.50[151]
2021–2022 — — — — — — — NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 18.00[152]
2022–2023 — — — — — — — NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 18.14[153]
Notes
  1. ^ In 2012–13, NBC Sunday Night Football aired three broadcasts – NFL week 1, NFL week 2 and the Kickoff Game – before the official start of the television season. These broadcasts are not counted in the rankings for Live nor Live + 7 DVR results. NBC Sunday Night Football still recorded the highest Live results for the season. For the Live + 7 DVR results, if these broadcasts were counted, NBC Sunday Night Football would average 21.44 million viewers, and would have displaced NCIS's 2012–13 / season 10 for the highest Live + 7 DVR results. The NFL Thanksgiving Game is counted as part of Sunday Night Football for ratings, but not the Kickoff Game or Weeks 1-2.[134]

Television network ratings by year

[edit]

(Average primetime viewership)

Network 2019 views[154] 2018 views[155] 2017 views[156] 2016 views[157] 2015 views[158] 2014 views[158]
CBS 7,140,000 7,385,000 7,996,000 8,814,000 9,419,000 9,375,000
NBC 6,330,000 7,876,000 7,284,000 8,426,000 7,757,000 8,264,000
ABC 5,192,000 5,423,000 5,592,000 6,325,000 6,894,000 6,838,000
Fox 4,623,000 4,401,000 4,733,000 5,053,000 5,198,000 5,973,000

Nielsen SVOD content ratings

[edit]

Starting in September 2020, Nielsen releases a weekly list of top 10 television shows most watched on streaming platforms, or subscription video on demand (SVOD).[159] This immediately attracted attention by mainstream media, such as Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and Business Insider.[160][161][162][163]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Nielsen Media Research

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Nielsen Media Research is an American firm specializing in audience measurement for television, radio, and digital media, best known for its Nielsen ratings system that tracks viewership to inform advertising and content decisions. Founded in 1923 by Arthur C. Nielsen as a market research company, it expanded into media audience tracking with radio audits in the 1930s and introduced national television ratings in 1950 using household meters to record viewing habits. The company's data has historically dominated the industry, enabling broadcasters to set ad rates based on empirical viewership estimates derived from representative panels of households. Over decades, Nielsen achieved milestones such as global expansion to over 100 countries and adaptation to digital metrics, though its core TV measurement remains influential despite shifts toward streaming. Key controversies include a 2021 suspension of accreditation for its national TV ratings by the Media Rating Council over data collection and processing lapses, which networks claimed inflated or misrepresented audiences during the pandemic, alongside lawsuits alleging rating manipulation in international markets. Critics, including broadcasters facing cord-cutting declines, have faulted Nielsen for methodological shortcomings in capturing fragmented viewing, such as limited out-of-home and streaming data, prompting calls for alternatives amid eroding monopoly. These challenges highlight tensions between traditional panel-based sampling and the demands of multi-platform consumption, yet Nielsen persists as a benchmark, albeit under scrutiny for accuracy in a post-linear TV landscape.

History

Founding and Early Market Research (1923–1940s)

Arthur Charles Nielsen, an electrical engineer, founded the A. C. Nielsen Company in Chicago on September 12, 1923, initially as a statistical consulting firm focused on measuring manufacturing efficiency, product quality, and market share through audits of sales data from retailers and wholesalers. To launch the venture, Nielsen borrowed $45,000 from his University of Wisconsin fraternity brothers, capitalizing on post-World War I industrial demand for objective performance benchmarks amid rising consumer goods competition. The firm's early services emphasized empirical audits, such as tracking soap and starch sales to quantify brand penetration, establishing a foundation in quantitative market analysis that prioritized verifiable data over anecdotal sales reports. By 1924, the company expanded into marketing research by producing its first performance surveys, which evaluated industrial processes and consumer product distribution using standardized sampling methods to derive market shares with statistical reliability. In 1927, Nielsen conducted the first comprehensive industrial market survey, applying auditing techniques to broader sectors and demonstrating the viability of syndicated data services where clients shared costs for aggregated insights. These innovations addressed causal gaps in traditional sales tracking, such as unmeasured inventory hoarding or regional biases, by integrating field audits with probabilistic sampling to yield defensible estimates of national market dynamics. During , amid the Great Depression's economic contraction, Nielsen adapted by developing a retail index service that monitored and purchases across a panel of stores, manufacturers to calculate precise market shares for the first time through continuous tracking of unit and . This service, known as the Nielsen Index and Drug Index, relied on a fixed sample of approximately 1,200 to 1,500 retail outlets audited weekly, providing early causal insights into consumer behavior shifts driven by price sensitivity and brand loyalty. Concurrently, the firm entered media measurement by launching radio audience ratings in 1935, using listener diaries and telephone coincidentals to estimate program popularity, though these methods faced limitations from recall bias and small sample sizes of around 3,000 households. Into the 1940s, Nielsen pioneered mechanical audience measurement with the Audimeter, a device attached to radios to automatically record tuning duration and station selection, addressing the unreliability of self-reported data. In August 1942, the company introduced the Nielsen Radio Index service, deploying about 1,000 Audimeters in a stratified national panel of homes selected for demographic representativeness, yielding minute-by-minute listenership metrics that broadcasters and advertisers used to optimize scheduling and ad placements based on empirical tuning patterns. This shift from manual diaries to passive metering marked a causal advancement in understanding audience engagement, as the Audimeter captured unprompted behavior without respondent fatigue, though initial adoption was constrained by installation costs and wartime material shortages. By the late 1940s, these tools had solidified Nielsen's role in bridging market research with emerging broadcast economics, informing investments in radio amid competition from print media.

Pioneering Television Audience Measurement (1950s–1970s)

In 1950, Nielsen launched the Nielsen Television Index (NTI), marking its entry into systematic television audience measurement by adapting the Audimeter—a mechanical recording device originally developed for radio audiences—to monitor TV set usage in selected households. This innovation addressed the limitations of prior methods, such as telephone coincidence surveys or manual diaries, by providing automated, objective on when televisions were tuned to specific channels, thereby enabling more reliable estimates of national viewership for broadcast networks. The company's first national ratings survey under the NTI was issued in May 1950, establishing Nielsen as the dominant provider of TV ratings amid the rapid post-World War II expansion of television ownership in the United States. The core methodology relied on a national panel of households equipped with Audimeters, which inscribed tuning events onto paper tape for periodic collection and analysis, supplemented by viewer diaries from a larger rotating sample to capture demographic details like age, gender, and household composition that meters alone could not record. This hybrid approach yielded key metrics such as household ratings (percentage of TV-owning homes tuned to a program) and share (percentage of TVs in use tuned to it), statistically projected to the broader population through probability sampling techniques refined from Nielsen's radio-era research. While the metered sample remained modest—typically hundreds of homes to ensure representativeness without excessive costs—the system's mechanical precision minimized human error and recall bias inherent in self-reported surveys, fostering trust among networks and advertisers for scheduling and pricing decisions. During the mid-1950s, Nielsen expanded beyond national network measurement with the introduction of the Nielsen Station Index in 1954, which extended Audimeter-based tracking to local markets starting with the top 30 U.S. metropolitan areas, and the Designated Market Area (DMA) framework in 1955 to delineate non-overlapping geographic viewing zones based on signal dominance and viewer habits. By 1965, the company introduced Viewers in Profile (VIP), a service integrating audience data with station-specific sales tools to aid local broadcasters in monetizing ad time. These developments supported the medium's growth, as TV penetration rose from about 9% of U.S. households in 1950 to over 85% by 1960, with Nielsen's data guiding content investments amid competition from emerging color broadcasting and syndicated programming. The 1970s saw technological refinements to enhance timeliness and accuracy, including the 1971 rollout of the Storage Instantaneous Audimeter, which used microchip storage to capture minute-by-minute data and transmit it overnight via telephone lines, reducing manual tape handling and enabling faster reporting. National daily ratings became available in 1973, while local metering expanded to major markets like Los Angeles in 1970 and Chicago in 1976, alongside automated electronic tracking of network feeds in 1977 to verify program lineups independently of viewer reports. These advancements coincided with rising multichannel options and cable penetration, yet Nielsen maintained methodological rigor by calibrating panels against census data on TV ownership and demographics, ensuring projections reflected causal viewing patterns driven by program appeal rather than sampling artifacts.

Expansion and Refinements in Broadcast Era (1980s–2000s)

During the 1980s, Nielsen Media Research expanded its measurement capabilities to accommodate the rapid growth of cable television and video cassette recorder (VCR) adoption, which introduced new viewing patterns including time-shifted playback. In 1980, the company launched the Nielsen Homevideo Index (NHI), a service designed to quantify audiences for cable, pay-TV, and VCR content, with daily cable ratings becoming available by 1982. By 1985, Nielsen's national TV metering covered over 5,500 U.S. households, reflecting increased sample sizes to capture the diversifying broadcast landscape amid rising multichannel households. A pivotal refinement occurred in 1987 with the introduction of the National People Meter, an electronic device installed in approximately 2,000 households that required viewers to register their presence via button presses, enabling granular demographic breakdowns and overnight delivery of ratings data via telephone lines. This system supplanted earlier household-level Audimeters combined with viewer diaries, which had relied on self-reported data prone to inaccuracies, thereby improving precision in identifying individual viewing habits and accelerating industry responses to programming performance. The People Meter's implementation addressed criticisms of prior methods' underrepresentation of demographics, though it initially faced challenges in household compliance and representativeness. Into the 1990s and early , Nielsen refined local market measurements, where paper diaries had long dominated due to logistical constraints. Starting with a pilot in in spring 2001, the company rolled out Local People Meters (LPMs), adapting the national for metropolitan areas to provide electronic, demographic-specific data without diaries, enhancing accuracy in fragmented local markets with high cable penetration. Nationally, sample expansion continued, doubling to 10,000 households by 2003 to better reflect population shifts and channel proliferation. By 2005, Nielsen deployed active/passive hybrid meters capable of detecting both analog and emerging digital signals, while incorporating seven-day time-shifted viewing (e.g., VCR/DVR playback) into syndicated reports, yielding more comprehensive metrics for broadcasters navigating increased viewing flexibility. These advancements maintained Nielsen's monopoly-like position in broadcast-era ratings, though they drew scrutiny over potential undercounting of non-traditional households.

Digital Transition and Corporate Evolution (2010s–Present)

In the 2010s, Nielsen expanded its audience measurement to digital realms, addressing the rise of online video and social media consumption. Global users spent over 110 billion minutes monthly on social networks and blogs by 2010, comprising 22% of total internet time. U.S. internet video viewers averaged 3 hours and 10 minutes of monthly viewing in Q1 2010, prompting Nielsen to develop metrics for multi-platform engagement across TV, internet, and mobile. The company introduced Online Campaign Ratings in 2010 to evaluate digital ad performance, partnering with advertisers like Procter & Gamble for testing. As streaming overtook traditional viewing, Nielsen integrated big data and panel-based systems to track SVOD and OTT platforms, providing persons-level insights into viewership demographics and behaviors. By May 2025, streaming captured 44.8% of total TV usage, exceeding broadcast (20.1%) and cable (24.1%) combined for the first time. To address fragmentation, Nielsen launched Nielsen ONE in the late 2010s, offering deduplicated metrics across linear TV, streaming, and digital channels using the industry's broadest dataset coverage. Corporately, Nielsen Holdings, public since its 2011 IPO, pursued acquisitions to bolster digital capabilities, including Affinnova in 2014 for advanced marketing research integration. In March 2022, the company agreed to a $16 billion buyout by a consortium led by Evergreen Coast Capital (Elliott Management affiliate) and Brookfield Partners, delisting from public markets at $28 per share—a 60% premium over unaffected prices. The deal closed later that year, enabling focus on measurement amid streaming shifts. Under private , Nielsen restructured in 2023 to streamline operations and counter in . Methodological accelerated, with a shift from panel-only to hybrid + Panel approaches by Q4 , incorporating streaming first-party and out-of-home viewing for comprehensive ratings starting fall . This update aimed to enhance accuracy for live and cross-platform audiences, reflecting causal shifts in viewing habits driven by digital .

Measurement Methodologies

Core Panel and Metering Systems

Nielsen's core panel for television audience measurement consists of approximately 42,000 U.S. households encompassing over 101,000 individuals, designed as a probability-based sample to statistically represent the nation's roughly 125 million television households across demographics, geography, and viewing behaviors. Households are recruited through random selection from national address frames, ensuring proportional inclusion of factors such as age, income, ethnicity, and urban-rural distribution, with ongoing recruitment to maintain representativeness amid population changes and participant attrition. Participants receive incentives like cash payments or sweepstakes entries, and panelists agree to equipment installation and behavioral compliance, with data anonymized post-collection. The metering system centers on the People Meter, an electronic device affixed to each television in panel homes, which passively captures viewing data without relying on self-reported diaries. This meter employs audio signature recognition or embedded inaudible watermarks—codes broadcast within program audio—to identify content, channel, and timestamp with high precision, distinguishing tuned signals from ambient noise or non-broadcast sources. Complementing this, advanced variants like the Nano People Meter integrate infrared remote detection to verify active tuning and screen captures for validation, ensuring measurement across linear broadcast, cable, and select connected devices. Viewer attribution occurs via an interactive interface on the People Meter, typically a set-top box or handheld remote, where household members register presence by pressing personalized buttons upon entering or leaving the viewing room; guests use a dedicated code, and absences are logged to apportion credit accurately to individuals rather than households. Data accumulates in real-time storage within the meter, transmitting nightly via modem or cellular uplink to Nielsen's central servers for processing, where it undergoes quality checks for compliance, such as minimum viewing logs or equipment functionality. This granular, person-level tracking enables projection to the broader universe using weighting algorithms that adjust for sample biases, yielding metrics like household ratings scaled to national estimates. Household ratings, such as the average household rating for major events like the Super Bowl, measure the percentage of television households with at least one television tuned to the program. Viewing on multiple televisions within the same household does not result in additional household rating points; the household contributes only one rating point regardless of how many sets are tuned to the program. In contrast, person-level demographic ratings rely on the people meter registration process to attribute viewing to specific individuals, enabling the accounting of multiple viewers across different televisions in the home. To further enhance accuracy in capturing co-viewing, Nielsen launched a pilot program in 2026 utilizing wearable devices—resembling smart watches worn on the wrist—to passively capture audio from TV content. The pilot began with Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026, and continues with other high-profile live events, providing separate co-viewing estimates without altering the core household counting rule. Historically, this panel-metering approach, refined since the introduction of electronic people meters replacing manual diaries, provides causal grounding for viewing by linking device signals directly to presence, though its representativeness hinges on efficacy and participant , with turnover rates managed through quarterly refreshes. Limitations include underrepresentation of non-panel behaviors like out-of-home viewing or rapid channel surfing, prompting supplementary integrations, yet the core system's empirical reliability stems from its longitudinal stability and validation against benchmarks.

Ratings Calculation and Key Metrics

Nielsen calculates television ratings using data from a nationally representative panel of approximately 40,000 households equipped with electronic metering devices, known as peoplemeters, which automatically record channel tuning, program viewing, and individual demographics via remote inputs from panel members. These meters capture both live linear viewing and time-shifted content up to seven days post-airing, with panel data extrapolated to represent the broader universe of television households, estimated at around 123 million in the United States as of 2023. The extrapolation relies on statistical weighting to match census demographics, ensuring the sample reflects national viewing patterns without over-relying on self-reported diaries, which supplement but do not drive core metrics. The primary metric, rating, expresses the estimated percentage of the total universe tuned to a specific program or channel, computed as (measured audience in panel / total panel households) scaled to the universe size, multiplied by 100. For instance, a 1.0 rating indicates 1% of the universe, or roughly 1.23 million households for national TV, projected as rating × universe / 100 × 1,000 in thousands. Ratings are segmented by demographics such as age (e.g., adults 18-49) and gender, with the 18-49 group often prioritized for advertiser relevance due to higher disposable income correlations. Nielsen distinguishes between household ratings and person-level demographic ratings. For household ratings—commonly reported for major events such as the Super Bowl—a household is counted as viewing if at least one television set in the home is tuned to the program, contributing only one rating point regardless of the number of televisions tuned to the same channel or the number of viewers present. In contrast, person-level ratings rely on people meters to track individual viewers, enabling accounting for multiple individuals watching across different televisions within the same household. This core household counting rule remains unchanged by recent methodological enhancements, including a 2026 pilot program launched with Super Bowl LX that uses wrist-worn wearable devices to passively capture audio and improve co-viewing accuracy for shared viewing experiences. Share measures the program's audience as a percentage of households actively using television during the time slot, calculated as share = (program rating / HUT) × 100, where HUT (households using television) is the percentage of the universe with at least one set in use. HUT levels fluctuate daily, averaging 40-50% in prime time but lower during daytime, directly influencing share values; for example, a 10 share in a 50 HUT slot equates to a 5 rating. This metric highlights competitive performance within active viewing pools rather than absolute reach. Additional key metrics include gross rating points (GRPs), aggregating exposure for campaigns as the sum of individual spot ratings multiplied by frequency, used to evaluate advertising efficiency (e.g., GRPs = reach × average frequency). Cost per mille (CPM) derives from campaign costs divided by impressions in thousands, often benchmarked against ratings to assess value, with TV CPMs historically ranging $10-30 per thousand viewers in prime slots as of 2023. These calculations anchor media buying, though post-2016 integrations of big data from set-top boxes calibrate panel estimates for greater accuracy amid streaming fragmentation.

Demographic Segmentation and Commercial Analysis

Nielsen Media Research segments television audiences into demographic categories to enable precise targeting for advertisers and content creators. Primary breakdowns include age groups such as adults 18-49—a benchmark demographic valued for its consumer spending influence—alongside 18-34, 25-54, and total persons aged 2 and older; gender divisions (male/female); and supplementary factors like household income, education, and race/ethnicity. These categories are populated via self-reported data from recruited panel households, where viewing attribution occurs through people meters or wearable devices that log individual consumption, yielding representative estimates scaled to the national population of approximately 123 million TV households as of recent measurements. Commercial analysis leverages these segments to assess ad performance beyond program ratings, focusing on metrics that capture exposure to advertisements specifically. The C3 rating, established in 2007, calculates the average audience for commercial minutes within a program's window, including live telecasts plus digital video recorder playback up to three days later, often reported for high-value demos like adults 18-49 to reflect delayed viewing trends that reached over 30% of total TV consumption by the mid-2010s. This approach addresses erosion in live ad exposure by crediting time-shifted views, informing advertiser negotiations where demo delivery dictates pricing. In 2023, Nielsen integrated sources—such as return path and from smart TVs—into C3 and extended C7 (live plus seven days) calculations, combining them with panel inputs for demographic and reduced reliance on smaller samples of around 40,000 households. Individual commercial ratings, piloted from 2022, further refine this by measuring specific ad spots rather than aggregates, allowing breakdowns by demo composition to evaluate reach, , and efficiency metrics like per thousand (CPM) tailored to segments. For instance, a program's C3 rating of 2.0 in adults 18-49 equates to about 2.46 million viewers in that group, guiding budget allocation toward slots optimizing return for brands targeting youth-oriented products. Such methodologies prioritize empirical viewing logs over self-reports, weighting for demographic parity to counter potential panel skews from volunteer biases.

Adaptation to Digital and Streaming Media

Integration of Big Data and Streaming Metrics

Nielsen's integration of big data into its audience measurement began accelerating in the mid-2010s as traditional panel-based systems proved insufficient for capturing fragmented viewing across streaming platforms, leading to the development of hybrid methodologies that leverage vast datasets from set-top boxes, smart TVs, and connected devices. By 2025, this culminated in the "Big Data + Panel" approach, which combines census-level data from approximately 45 million households and 75 million devices with calibrated panel measurements to enhance accuracy and representativeness in TV ratings, including streaming consumption. The methodology employs big data sources such as automatic content recognition (ACR) technologies and device-level telemetry to track streaming viewership on platforms like YouTube, which Nielsen reported accounted for over 12% of total TV usage by mid-2025, up from prior estimates. This data is then statistically modeled against Nielsen's national panel of metered households to infer demographics, viewing behaviors, and commercial exposure, addressing limitations of panels alone in scaling to digital fragmentation. The Media Rating Council accredited this system for national TV measurement on January 22, 2025, confirming its compliance with industry standards for reliability and quality. For streaming specifically, Nielsen incorporates first-party data shared voluntarily by participating services to measure live events, such as sports broadcasts, integrating it with big data streams for a unified view of linear and nonlinear consumption. This shift, rolled out for the fall 2025 TV season starting September 2, 2025, replaces panel-only ratings for public reporting, providing more stable and forecastable metrics that better reflect out-of-home and multi-device viewing patterns. Early analyses indicate improved precision for high-stakes content like NFL games, where streaming boosts can now be quantified alongside traditional feeds without undercounting dispersed audiences. Critics note potential challenges in data privacy and representativeness, as big data sources may skew toward tech-adopting households, though Nielsen mitigates this via panel calibration and ongoing audits. The approach marks a causal pivot from sampling extrapolation to data fusion, enabling causal insights into how streaming erodes linear shares—evidenced by genre-specific upticks in total viewing when big data captures previously unmeasured sessions.

Cross-Platform and Out-of-Home Measurement

Nielsen's cross-platform measurement initiatives, exemplified by the Nielsen ONE platform launched in 2020, integrate audience data from linear television, connected TV, and digital video to deliver a unified, de-duplicated currency for media buying and selling. This approach combines panel-based tracking with big data from set-top boxes and streaming services to calculate reach, frequency, and impressions across platforms, addressing fragmentation in viewer behavior. By shifting to an impressions-first methodology in 2021, Nielsen enhanced precision by incorporating broadband-only households and device-level signals, enabling more representative metrics for total audience exposure. Out-of-home (OOH) measurement forms a critical component of Nielsen's cross-platform framework, capturing viewing in non-residential settings such as sports bars, airports, and workplaces, which traditional in-home panels historically underrepresented. In 2025, Nielsen achieved full national coverage for OOH data across the United States, leveraging expanded panels and proprietary technology to quantify live event consumption away from home, where it serves as the only provider offering integrated in-home and OOH insights for real-time programming. For instance, during the 2024 NFL season, select high-profile matchups derived 30% to 40% of their total TV audience from OOH sources, underscoring the metric's impact on sports and event ratings. The Big Data + Panel hybrid methodology underpins these efforts, fusing anonymized return path data from millions of devices with demographically matched panel observations to mitigate biases in self-reported or device-only estimates. Accreditation of this system in early 2025 validated its scalability for cross-platform and OOH applications, prompting methodological refinements that boosted reported audiences for major broadcasts like the Super Bowl. Partnerships, such as with TikTok in December 2024 for ad performance benchmarking across linear TV, connected TV, and digital platforms, further extend Nielsen's cross-platform capabilities to performance tracking. Similarly, a 2025 collaboration with WPP Media advanced U.S.-specific integration of TV, AVOD, and SVOD data for audience planning. These developments prioritize empirical validation over legacy household-centric models, though challenges persist in fully reconciling privacy-compliant data streams with comprehensive causality in viewer attribution.

SVOD and OTT Content Ratings

Nielsen began providing dedicated ratings for subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and over-the-top (OTT) content in the late , expanding from traditional linear to capture viewing on platforms like , , and Disney+. This shift addressed the growing fragmentation of audiences, with initial efforts focusing on episode-level data for originals and acquired series, enabled by partnerships with streaming services to access anonymized playback logs combined with Nielsen's national TV panel. By 2019, Nielsen extended its ratings to content, marking a key in SVOD coverage. The methodology for SVOD and OTT ratings integrates Nielsen's core panel of approximately 42,000 U.S. households equipped with Streaming Meters—devices that track video consumption across apps and devices—with big data from server-side reporting by platforms. This hybrid approach yields persons-level metrics, including total minutes viewed, unique viewers, and demographic breakdowns (e.g., age, gender, household income), calibrated for national representativeness. For OTT, which encompasses both ad-supported (AVOD) like YouTube and SVOD models, Nielsen's Streaming Content Ratings, launched in June 2023, specifically delineate original programming from platforms, excluding short-form or user-generated content unless it meets episode-length thresholds. Key outputs include weekly Top 10 rankings of streaming programs by minutes viewed, such as Tyler Perry's Beauty in Black topping charts with 1.35 billion minutes for the week of September 15-21, 2025, and broader reports like The Gauge, which tracks platform shares. In May 2025, streaming accounted for a record 44.8% of total TV usage, surpassing combined broadcast (20.1%) and cable (24.1%), with SVOD platforms like Netflix and YouTube driving gains—streaming usage rose 71% since 2021. SVOD-specific insights highlight dominance by Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video, which hosted 92% of top sports programs in 2025, informing content investment and ad pricing. Nielsen's + Panel , implemented for the fall 2025 TV season, further refines OTT/SVOD accuracy by fusing with aggregated platform , cross-platform comparisons and advanced segments for advertisers. This supports metrics like completion rates and binge-viewing patterns, though coverage remains U.S.-centric and reliant on voluntary platform , potentially underrepresenting non-partnered services. Annual summaries, such as the 2024 ARTEY Awards, reported over 12 minutes of streaming consumption, equivalent to 23 million viewer-years, underscoring SVOD/OTT's to modern media .

Business Model and Operations

Revenue Streams and Client Base

Nielsen Media Research primarily generates revenue through subscription-based contracts for syndicated audience measurement data, including television ratings, streaming metrics, and cross-platform analytics, which serve as the standard currency for advertising transactions in the industry. Clients pay recurring fees for access to these datasets, often scaled by the scope of coverage such as national or local markets, with additional income from custom research commissions, software tools for media planning, and licensing of proprietary measurement technologies. Consulting services that apply Nielsen's data to optimize ad campaigns and audience targeting further diversify revenue, reflecting the firm's role in enabling data-driven decisions amid fragmented media consumption. The client base encompasses broadcasters, content distributors, advertisers, and media agencies reliant on verifiable viewership figures for inventory valuation and performance benchmarking. Key clients include major U.S. broadcast networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, alongside cable operators, pay-TV providers, and streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and Disney+. As of September 2025, Nielsen holds measurement agreements with all principal U.S. broadcasters, streamers, and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), ensuring comprehensive coverage that underpins billions in annual ad revenue negotiations.

Ownership Changes and Global Expansion

In 1984, Nielsen was acquired by the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, which integrated its market research operations into a broader portfolio of data services. Twelve years later, in 1996, Dun & Bradstreet restructured the entity by splitting it into two independent companies: Nielsen Media Research, focused on television and media ratings, and AC Nielsen, dedicated to consumer purchasing trends and retail data. This division allowed specialized operations but lasted only until 1999, when the Dutch conglomerate VNU acquired Nielsen Media Research; VNU then purchased AC Nielsen in 2001, recombining the segments under unified ownership. VNU itself underwent a leveraged buyout in 2006 by a consortium of private equity firms—including KKR, Thomas H. Lee Partners, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, and AlpInvest Partners—for approximately £5 billion, after which the company rebranded as The Nielsen Company in 2007. Seeking public capital, Nielsen launched an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011, raising $1.8 billion to fund further development and acquisitions. The public phase ended in March 2022, when a private equity group led by Elliott Investment Management and Brookfield Asset Management acquired Nielsen Holdings for $16 billion, delisting it from the NYSE and returning it to private hands amid competitive pressures in media measurement. Under this ownership, Nielsen reorganized in 2023 into three divisions—audience measurement, analytics, and Gracenote—to streamline operations and address evolving digital metrics. Parallel to these ownership shifts, Nielsen Media Research pursued steady global expansion to extend its audience measurement beyond the United States. The company established its first international office in the United Kingdom in 1939, followed by Canada in 1944 and Australia in 1948, marking early post-World War II growth into English-speaking markets. By the mid-1950s, offices opened in the Netherlands (1952), New Zealand and Belgium (1953), Germany (1954), and Switzerland (1955, serving as a European operations hub), with Japan following in 1960 to tap Asian markets. A significant acceleration occurred in 1994 through the acquisition of Survey Research Group, Asia's leading market research firm, and a joint venture with Amer World Research, which extended coverage to Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, bringing operations to 76 countries and encompassing roughly 85% of global GDP by the early 2000s. This footprint supported localized media ratings systems, adapting metering technologies to diverse regulatory and cultural contexts while prioritizing scalable panel recruitment for empirical viewing data.

Products for Media Planning and Analytics

Nielsen provides specialized software and platforms for media planning and analytics, integrating its proprietary audience data to enable advertisers and agencies to forecast reach, optimize budgets, and evaluate campaign effectiveness across linear, digital, and emerging channels. These tools emphasize cross-media comparability, using metrics such as gross rating points (GRPs), reach, frequency, and return on investment (ROI) derived from panel-based and census-level measurements. Nielsen Media Impact supports the development and simulation of media mixes by applying respondent-level planning data against target audiences, allowing users to assess incremental reach, diminishing returns, and scenario comparisons across TV, connected TV (CTV), digital video, audio, and out-of-home media. Launched as part of Nielsen's evolution toward unified planning, it facilitates objective-based optimization, such as maximizing engagement or aligning with sales outcomes, and incorporates global market insights for international campaigns. The Nielsen Marketing Cloud offers an end-to-end platform for planning, activation, and analytics, combining real-time audience segmentation with artificial intelligence-driven personalization using first-, second-, and third-party data. It enables cross-channel targeting, performance attribution, and integration with external digital platforms, helping media buyers acquire high-value audiences while providing sellers with precise valuation of inventory based on peer benchmarks and transaction data. Competitive intelligence tools like Ad Intel deliver granular analytics on rivals' ad placements, spend levels, and creative executions across TV, digital display, social media, audio, print, cinema, and out-of-home, with reporting capabilities that track volume, share of voice, and tactical shifts to inform defensive or opportunistic planning adjustments. Underpinning these is Nielsen ONE, which aggregates deduplicated viewing metrics from over 40,000 U.S. households and census data for streaming, providing planners with a single source for cross-platform GRPs and audience currency to mitigate double-counting in fragmented ecosystems and support evidence-based budget allocation.

Historical Top-Rated Programs

Nielsen Media Research has documented the highest household ratings for television programs since the 1950s, measuring viewership as a percentage of total U.S. television households tuned in, which peaked during eras of limited channel options and national events. Early top-rated programs included variety shows and sitcoms like I Love Lucy, which dominated the 1950-1951 season with episodes achieving ratings above 50, reflecting near-universal appeal in an nascent TV landscape with fewer than 10 million households. By the 1970s, miniseries and family dramas ascended, exemplified by the 1977 broadcast of Roots, whose finale drew a 51.0 household rating across 44 million households, underscoring Nielsen's role in quantifying cultural phenomena through diary and meter-based sampling. The pinnacle of single-episode ratings occurred with the MASH* series finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," aired on CBS on February 28, 1983, which recorded a 60.2 household rating and 77 share, equivalent to 50.15 million households or over 105 million viewers, surpassing prior records set by events like the "Who Done It?" episode of Dallas in 1980 (53.3 rating). This metric, derived from Nielsen's national panel of metered households supplemented by diaries, represented about 60% of all U.S. TVs in use, highlighting the pre-cable, pre-streaming concentration of audiences. Non-fiction events often topped charts due to their singular draw; the Apollo 11 moon landing coverage on July 20, 1969, across ABC, CBS, and NBC amassed an estimated 150 million viewers, though exact Nielsen ratings were not standardized as for primetime series given the all-day format and public broadcaster involvement. Sports broadcasts, particularly Super Bowls, frequently ranked high seasonally—Super Bowl XVI in 1982 achieved a 49.1 rating—but trailed scripted finales in peak household penetration until viewer inflation from population growth outpaced rating percentages in later decades.
Program/EventAir DateNetworkHousehold RatingHouseholds Tuned In (millions)Viewers (millions, approx.)
Finale (""), 198360.250.15105.9
, 1969ABC//N/A (event coverage)N/A150
Finale (Part VIII), 1977ABC51.044100+
("Who Done It?"), 198053.341.4783
These benchmarks illustrate Nielsen's evolution from manual diaries to electronic meters by the 1980s, enabling precise capture of live viewership surges, though methodological shifts—like incorporating out-of-home viewing post-2000s—have complicated direct historical comparisons without adjustment for total households (e.g., 83 million in 1983 vs. 125 million today). Annual top series, such as All in the Family averaging 34.0 for the 1971-1972 season, further demonstrate sustained dominance, with Nielsen data influencing programming cancellations and renewals based on these metrics.

Annual Reports and Viewing Milestones

Nielsen issues year-end streaming reports that compile total minutes viewed across platforms, drawing from its panel-based and big data measurements. In its 2023 analysis, the firm identified the legal drama Suits as the most-watched acquired series ever, accumulating 57.7 billion minutes on Netflix, eclipsing the prior record held by The Office at 57.1 billion minutes. For 2024, Nielsen's ARTEY Awards highlighted aggregate streaming consumption exceeding 12 trillion minutes, translating to roughly 8.4 billion days or 23 million years of continuous viewing, with awards recognizing top originals, acquired content, and movies based on verified usage metrics. These publications integrate data from over 42,000 households in Nielsen's persons panel, supplemented by return path data from smart TVs and set-top boxes, to offer broadcasters, streamers, and advertisers validated trends beyond self-reported platform claims. Key viewing milestones documented in Nielsen's reports underscore shifts from linear to digital consumption. A pivotal benchmark occurred in May 2025, when streaming captured 44.8% of total U.S. TV usage—its highest share recorded—surpassing the combined 44.2% for broadcast (20.1%) and cable (24.1%), marking the first time non-linear platforms outpaced traditional sources since Nielsen began comprehensive tracking in 2021. This represented a 71% increase in streaming's share over four years, driven by platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video, amid a 21% decline in broadcast and 39% drop in cable usage. Earlier records include 2023's peak for acquired content longevity and 2024's ad-supported streaming gains, where such viewing rose to 73.6% of overall TV in Q2 2025. Nielsen's annual data also captures event-driven spikes, such as September 2025's broadcast surge from NFL games, which drove the largest monthly increase in linear viewership in recent history. These milestones inform industry benchmarks, with full-season multiplatform rankings often crowning networks like CBS for total viewers—led by procedurals such as Tracker—while streaming giants dominate minutes viewed, as seen in Netflix's Squid Game topping 2024-2025 aggregates. Such outputs, derived from hybrid big data and panel validation starting in fall 2025, enhance accuracy over prior meter-only methods but highlight ongoing fragmentation challenges.

Controversies and Criticisms

Accuracy and Methodological Shortcomings

Nielsen's traditional panel-based methodology, which relies on metering devices installed in approximately 42,000 households representing about 101,000 individuals, has been criticized for its small sample size relative to the U.S. population, leading to statistical sampling errors such as high variability and frequent "zero ratings" for low-viewership programs. This extrapolation from panels to national estimates introduces relative errors, where inaccuracies amplify for niche demographics or fragmented audiences, as the method struggles to capture diverse viewing behaviors beyond linear TV. In October 2014, Nielsen acknowledged a software processing error that had inflated broadcast network ratings by about 0.5 points since March of that year, affecting key metrics like the 18-49 demographic and prompting revisions to historical data. The flaw stemmed from improper handling of household-level data aggregation, underscoring vulnerabilities in data processing pipelines that rely on proprietary algorithms without sufficient redundancy checks. A more significant lapse occurred from September 2020 to December 2021, when Nielsen erroneously excluded out-of-home viewing data from broadband-only households, undercounting primetime audiences by nearly 400,000 viewers nightly during analyzed periods and resulting in an estimated $350 million to $700 million in lost advertising revenue for networks, particularly impacting live sports and minority demographics. The Television Bureau of Advertising's analysis highlighted disproportionate effects, with 30 billion ad impressions uncounted from May to December 2021, including 10.5 billion for 18-34-year-olds; Nielsen contested the scale, deeming the impact "very small" for most content. These incidents contributed to the Media Rating Council's revocation of Nielsen's accreditation for national TV ratings in September 2021, citing deficiencies in data collection, processing integrity, and overall reliability amid industry scrutiny over the firm's adaptation to streaming and multi-platform consumption. Critics argue that panel recruitment biases—such as underrepresentation of cord-cutters and mobile viewers—persist even with integrations of big data, as the core probabilistic sampling fails to fully mitigate self-selection and non-response errors inherent in voluntary participation. Ongoing methodological shortcomings include inadequate capture of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and over-the-top (OTT) viewing, where panel meters underperform against digital fragmentation, leading to documented undercounts during the COVID-19 pandemic when viewing shifted outdoors and online. Efforts to hybridize panels with big data sources aim to address these, but validation studies reveal persistent inaccuracies in household-level reporting and demographic weighting, particularly for larger families and non-traditional households. Accreditation was reinstated in 2023 following audits, yet skepticism remains regarding the sufficiency of panel diversification for causal accuracy in an era of cross-device consumption.

Allegations of Bias and Market Distortion

Nielsen has faced allegations of methodological bias in its audience measurement panels, particularly for undercounting viewers of live events such as sports programming. In 2021, the Media Rating Council (MRC) audit revealed that Nielsen undercounted adults aged 18-49 by 2% to 6% in key demographics during February sweeps, leading to estimated revenue losses for networks ranging from $39 million to $234 million in that month alone. The National Football League (NFL) accused Nielsen of undercounting millions of football viewers over multiple seasons, prompting the introduction of Nielsen's "Big Data + Panel" hybrid methodology in 2025 to incorporate more comprehensive data sources, though critics argued this was a delayed response to longstanding inaccuracies. Such undercounting has been attributed to limitations in Nielsen's traditional people-meter panels, which rely on a sample of approximately 40,000 households and may fail to capture out-of-home viewing or shifts in behavior during events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics contend that these measurement shortcomings introduce bias by disproportionately affecting linear television and live content, distorting advertising allocations toward overrepresented streaming platforms. Networks including NBCUniversal and Disney have publicly criticized Nielsen for failing to adapt to fragmented viewing habits, with executives claiming the firm's metrics undervalue traditional broadcasts and inflate perceptions of digital alternatives' dominance. Nielsen has countered that its methods provide statistically valid estimates within margins of error, and independent audits like those from MRC have prompted refinements rather than systemic invalidation. However, the persistence of these disputes has fueled calls for accreditation reforms, as seen in the MRC's temporary suspension of Nielsen's national TV measurement certification in 2021 over similar issues. In the radio sector, Nielsen has been accused of leveraging monopoly power to distort market competition and pricing. On October 17, 2025, Cumulus Media, operator of over 400 radio stations, filed a federal antitrust lawsuit alleging that Nielsen degraded the quality of its ratings products, imposed unjustified price hikes, and blocked entry by rivals in the radio ratings data market. The complaint asserts that Nielsen's dominance—stemming from its entrenched position as the primary provider of audience metrics—allows it to extract supracompetitive profits from broadcasters while stifling innovation, thereby harming smaller stations reliant on accurate data for ad sales. This alleged market distortion echoes broader concerns about Nielsen's role in perpetuating outdated measurement paradigms, such as reliance on diary-based systems prone to respondent bias, which may favor larger urban markets over rural or niche audiences. These allegations highlight tensions between Nielsen's panel-based approach and the demands of a multi-platform media landscape, where methodological choices can inadvertently bias outcomes toward established players. Proponents of reform argue that such distortions incentivize programming decisions skewed by incomplete data, potentially undervaluing diverse content and exacerbating revenue declines for traditional media. Nielsen maintains that its methodologies undergo rigorous third-party validation and that competitors' challenges often stem from industry resistance to change rather than inherent flaws. Ongoing litigation and regulatory scrutiny, including from the Department of in related measurement disputes, underscore the stakes for market fairness.

Industry Responses and Reforms

In response to longstanding criticisms of methodological shortcomings, such as insufficient panel representation and undercounting of viewing patterns, the Media Rating Council (MRC) suspended Nielsen's accreditation for national television total audience measurement on September 1, 2021, citing needs for improvements in panel size, maintenance, and data processing. This action followed audits revealing discrepancies in Nielsen's ability to accurately capture fragmented viewing, including local market data and emerging streaming habits, prompting broadcasters and advertisers to demand verifiable enhancements. Television networks and industry groups intensified pressure for reforms, with executives from major players like Disney and WarnerMedia publicly questioning Nielsen's reliability amid shifts to streaming and over-the-air viewing. In November 2021, Nielsen announced methodological overhauls, including expanded panel recruitment and integration of census-level data from set-top boxes to address underrepresentation of diverse households and out-of-home consumption. These changes aimed to restore credibility, as evidenced by Nielsen's subsequent investments in recruiting over 2,000 additional panelists by mid-2022 and piloting hybrid measurement systems. A pivotal reform came with the rollout of Nielsen's "Big Data + Panel" methodology, accredited by the MRC on January 22, 2025, which combines traditional people-meter panels with anonymized big data from approximately 45 million households across cable, satellite, and smart TV providers. This approach enhances accuracy for live events and sports by incorporating out-of-home and connected TV viewing, resulting in reported uplifts of 10-20% for NFL games in initial implementations starting September 2025. Industry adoption has been mixed, with some programmers welcoming the adjustments for better reflecting total audiences, while others, including the NFL, have contested specific extrapolations as inflating figures without sufficient validation. Further reforms include phasing out legacy panel-only metrics by Q4 2025 in favor of the hybrid model and gaining MRC approval for first-party streaming data integration in November 2024, enabling more granular tracking of platforms like Hulu and Peacock. Despite these advancements, ongoing industry skepticism persists, as seen in MRC revocations for Nielsen's audio diary services in select markets in October 2025, underscoring the need for continuous audits to maintain trust amid media fragmentation.

Industry Impact and Future Challenges

Influence on Advertising and Programming Decisions

Nielsen's television ratings have long served as the authoritative metric for broadcasters in making programming decisions, determining which series are renewed, canceled, or rescheduled. Networks evaluate performance using household ratings points, where one point equates to approximately 1% of potential U.S. television households—around 1.2 million in recent estimates—and shares representing the percentage of televisions in use tuned to a program. Shows failing to meet internal thresholds, often below 2-3 rating points for primetime slots, are routinely discontinued to allocate resources toward content expected to draw larger audiences, thereby sustaining ad revenue streams. This system incentivizes networks to prioritize broadly appealing formats over niche or experimental programming, as evidenced by the cancellation of critically acclaimed but low-rated series throughout television history. In advertising, Nielsen data directly calibrates commercial spot pricing and media buying strategies, functioning as the industry's standard currency for transactions exceeding tens of billions annually. Higher ratings translate to elevated cost-per-thousand (CPM) rates, with advertisers bidding premiums for slots in top-rated programs to reach desired demographics like adults 18-49, whose engagement commands up to 20-30% higher premiums due to purchasing power. For instance, during high-stakes events, a program's rating can inflate ad costs exponentially; a 30-second Super Bowl commercial in 2024 fetched around $7 million, scaled to projected viewership of over 120 million. Demographic granularity from Nielsen panels allows agencies to optimize spend, favoring shows that overperform in key viewer segments even if overall household numbers lag. This dual influence creates a causal linkage where programming chases advertiser-favored audiences, often homogenizing content to inflate ratings and CPMs, while underperformers are swiftly culled. As of 2025, Nielsen's integration of big data with panel measurements continues to underpin these decisions amid streaming growth, though linear TV's 44.8% share of total viewing in May underscores its enduring role in ad-supported ecosystems. Networks like ABC leverage ratings trends to refine strategies, such as shifting family-oriented lineups to counter cable declines.

Competition from Alternative Measurement Firms

Comscore has positioned itself as Nielsen's most direct long-term competitor in U.S. television ratings, offering syndicated audience data derived from a combination of panel-based and census-level sources such as set-top box data from cable and satellite providers. Founded in 1999, Comscore expanded into cross-platform measurement, including digital and connected TV (CTV), and achieved provisional accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC) for local TV measurement in select markets by 2021, with full certifications for national and local currencies reaffirmed by the Joint Industry Committee (JIC) in July 2025. This has enabled Comscore to secure deals for ad transactions, particularly in programmatic TV and streaming, where it claims superior granularity over Nielsen's traditional panel methods. iSpot.tv, launched in 2010, specializes in TV and CTV ad performance measurement using automatic content recognition (ACR) data from smart TVs and set-top boxes across approximately 45 million households, providing real-time attribution metrics like reach, frequency, and incremental lift without relying solely on panels. The firm received full JIC certification in August 2024, marking it as a viable alternative currency for broadcaster ad buys, and has been adopted in upfront negotiations for its ability to track ad exposure across linear and streaming platforms. iSpot's data has highlighted discrepancies with Nielsen, such as higher CTV viewership estimates, prompting agencies to use it for outcome-based planning amid Nielsen's acknowledged undercounting of non-linear consumption. VideoAmp, established in 2018, challenges Nielsen through its cross-media planning and measurement platform, integrating first-party data from publishers, DSPs, and ACR sources to enable de-duplicated audience reach across TV, digital video, and OTT. Certified by the JIC in 2024 and reaffirmed in 2025, VideoAmp has gained traction for upfront deals, with clients citing its probabilistic modeling as more adaptable to fragmented ecosystems than Nielsen's hybrid approach, which still phases out pure panel data only by Q4 2025. Surveys indicate 85% of U.S. brand and agency executives view such alternatives as equally or more effective for modern campaigns, reflecting industry frustration with Nielsen's historical lag in incorporating big data at scale. Other firms like Kantar Media provide global audience analytics with a focus on cross-channel insights, competing in international markets through partnerships and proprietary panels, though it trails in U.S. TV currency adoption. Samba TV and TVision offer ACR-driven alternatives, with Samba emphasizing privacy-compliant CTV data and TVision using in-home meters for attention metrics, both positioning against Nielsen's perceived methodological rigidity. These challengers have not displaced Nielsen as the national TV standard—retaining default status for most transactions—but their JIC validations and use in pilots, such as the NFL's exploration of non-Nielsen tools in 2025, signal erosion of its monopoly as media fragmentation accelerates.

Prospects Amid Media Fragmentation

Media fragmentation, characterized by the proliferation of streaming services, social video platforms, and on-demand content, has significantly eroded traditional linear television viewership, presenting both existential challenges and adaptation imperatives for Nielsen Media Research. In May 2025, streaming accounted for over 44% of total TV usage, surpassing combined broadcast and cable viewing for the first time, with streaming's share increasing by 5.9 percentage points year-over-year while linear formats declined. This shift reflects a broader trend where U.S. households increasingly opt for fragmented digital consumption, complicating unified audience measurement as viewers distribute time across disparate ecosystems like Netflix, YouTube, and ad-supported tiers. Nielsen has responded by advancing cross-platform measurement capabilities, notably through its Nielsen ONE platform, which integrates panel data with big data sources to track viewing across TV, streaming, audio, and digital channels. Launched in phases starting in 2023, Nielsen ONE gained traction in 2025 via partnerships, such as an August agreement with WPP Media to enhance ad performance analytics and audience insights spanning linear and nonlinear formats. These efforts aim to provide advertisers with de-duplicated metrics amid fragmentation, where ad-supported streaming represented nearly 74% of household TV viewing in the first half of 2025, up from prior years as platforms like YouTube captured 13.4% of total viewing during summer months. Despite these innovations, Nielsen's prospects hinge on sustaining industry trust in its methodology amid accelerating linear TV erosion, with broadcast and cable ad-supported viewing falling to 57.6% in 2025 from higher historical shares. The company's transition to hybrid panel-plus-big-data currency in 2025 aligns with consensus on linear decline rates, potentially bolstering accuracy, but persistent methodological debates and competition from agile rivals underscore risks of obsolescence if fragmentation outpaces measurement unification. Nielsen's 2025 Global Media Planning Report emphasizes audience planning tools to navigate this "nuanced and multifaceted" ecosystem, signaling a strategic pivot toward predictive analytics over legacy TV-centric metrics.

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  138. https://mediabrief.com/nielsen-launches-2025-global-media-planning-report/
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