Nielsen Backs Off Plans to Incorporate Amazon Data in ‘Thursday Night Football’ Ratings For Now
Amazon thought it was getting a late-August Christmas gift when it was announced that Nielsen planned to incorporate Amazon-generated viewership statistics into its own ratings for “Thursday Night Football” streams on Prime Video. Now, that gift has turned out to be nothing but a lump of coal.
A new story from The Hollywood Reporter states that Nielsen is not fully abandoning plans to use first-party data like Amazon’s in ratings in the future, but the process is slowing way down. Nielsen is going to await approval from the Media Ratings Council (MRC), an industry board which regulates and accredits rating and measurement firms before going ahead with the plan.
First-party data from streamers will still be used for Nielsen’s “Big Data in National” offering. However, the decision is still a win for linear broadcasters and other platforms that stream the NFL who argued that by allowing Amazon’s data to be included, it would create an unfair playing field when comparing ratings. While the delay is potentially just a temporary one that will last only as long as the MRC continues to deliberate, it at least keeps the status quo for the time being.
“As Nielsen works to modernize media measurement by integrating census-level data sets, including first-party data, we remain committed to adhering to the MRC’s measurement standards,” Nielsen said in a statement. “Our aim is to ensure the process with which we introduce new ways of measuring audiences is inclusive of client feedback and held to the highest standards. For now, Nielsen’s panel-only National TV service will remain the currency of record. First-party data will be included in Big Data in National measurement figures, which are available to all customers separately.”
The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), which represents TV network executives, passionately came out against the concept of using first-party streaming data in Nielsen ratings. The group argued that using Amazon’s data gave the company an unfair advantage, especially considering Amazon’s numbers for “TNF” games were consistently higher than Nielsen’s last season.
Nielsen responded to accusations of an unfair playing field by saying that any other streaming service could also apply to have their first-party data used, they simply hadn’t done so yet. The VAB countered by saying that Nielsen hadn’t made clear how to apply for that program, and was not responsive to requests for more information on how to do so.
The question of how ratings for “TNF” games on Prime Video are measured may become highly consequential when it comes time to negotiate the NFL’s next broadcast deal. That’s several years off still, but when the time comes, Amazon would have greater leverage over other competing parties for NFL rights if its ratings are given a boost by the incorporation of its data with Nielsen’s.
Nielsen is still planning to use first-party data in its ratings eventually, but first, it will await the findings of the MRC. The company has met with the board once already and hopes one more meeting will be enough to allay any concerns the regulatory group may have.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.