Nielsen is delaying its monthly Gauge report to April from its planned release next week after methodology changes raised objections from several of its clients.
The report, along with the monthly Media Distributor Gauge Report, had been scheduled to come out Tuesday, already later than usual. Now, they will be released in April, the company said Friday.
Peter Naylor, the former Hulu and Netflix exec who joined Nielsen as chief client officer last year, conveyed the news to customers in a letter obtained by Deadline. (Read it in full below.)
“We will be pushing Gauge methodology updates to the start of the fall season, aligning with the additional promised improvements to our currency products,” Naylor wrote. “We understand that there are diverging opinions on this among our broad client base, but we believe this is the best and least disruptive path for the industry.”
The Gauge began in 2021 as a way of tracking contemporary TV viewing, which increasingly straddles linear and streaming. Each month’s release captures the prior month’s viewing. As the February Gauge release approached, several clients were expressing concerns that the measurement firm was going to put out numbers suggesting sharper-than-expected declines in streaming. The downturns of more than a percentage point of view share for a range of outlets. Given the billions of dollars in advertising transacted on Nielsen data, even minor changes can have a big impact on major media companies and streamers.
The specific shift had to do with replacing some of Nielsen’s own panel data with numbers from the Advertising Research Foundation tracking how various demographic groups watch programming via different technology. “Because The Gauge is not a product, we did not provide as much impact data in advance,” Naylor wrote. “We regret this.”
The setback comes as Nielsen continues to try to account for fragmenting viewership of TV and a need for more sophisticated measurement than its traditional panel-based ratings. The company recently rolled out a blended ratings system that adds new data sources aimed at capturing more of the streaming ecosystem. It also has added out-of-home viewing to major live events, boosting sports programming.
Soon after the Gauge launched, it received an important endorsement from Netflix, which republished the report’s primary chart in a letter to shareholders as a way of validating its own methodology. YouTube, similarly, has pointed to the report to note it has been the dominant streaming outlet for several years running. Both tech companies were among those in line to get a haircut in the updated Gauge, according to multiple media accounts of the bumpy rollout.
Variety had the initial report on the latest delay.
Here is Naylor’s full letter:
To our partners:
While we planned to share February’s The Gauge and Media Distributor Gauge on March 24, we will be pushing the delivery of both reports back. We will not be making any methodological changes for The February Gauge and will be releasing it in April with the same methodology that we used for January.
We are doing this to minimize trend breaks. We will be pushing Gauge methodology updates to the start of the fall season, aligning with the additional promised improvements to our currency products.
We understand that there are diverging opinions on this among our broad client base, but we believe this is the best and least disruptive path for the industry.The original plan for The February Gauge was to reflect our currency products. Those products began incorporating the ARF’s accredited DASH universe estimates for February. We provided clients with impact data for that currency shift. Because The Gauge is not a product, we did not provide as much impact data in advance. We regret this.
As you all know, we are in the process of enhancing Big Data + Panel even further. This includes the DASH UEs, but also HDAM modeling, integrated weighting and co-viewing. The goal is to better align The Gauge with these changes over the long term, as seamlessly as possible. We will be walking your teams through that in more detail.
What we love most about The Gauge is how it celebrates the massive amount of time people spend watching your programming. We look forward to putting the spotlight back on all of your great work. Change is always challenging and we’re committed to better navigating through this with you in the future.