NAB: FCC Should Look Beyond Nielsen

The FCC should be on the lookout for alternative sources of market data aside from Nielsen, said NAB in comments posted Tuesday in docket 22-239. Though the proceeding narrowly concerns changing references in FCC rules from the now-defunct Station Index Directory to the company’s Local TV Report, NAB and Nielsen filings also responded to questions about the FCC’s dependence on Nielsen raised by Commissioner Nathan Simington in July (see 2207140055). Both MVPD and broadcast commenters agreed with FCC proposals to update references in the rules to Nielsen’s Local TV Report.

The FCC should also “consider alternatives to Nielsen in connection with any of its rules or required showings” particularly due to “current concerns with certain Nielsen data,” NAB said. Nielsen lost accreditation by the Media Ratings Council last year (see 2207180037). “We disagree with the Commissioner’s suggestion that something may be amiss in the Commission’s continued use of Nielsen’s data,” said Nielsen in its own filing, which also responded to Simington.

NAB conceded no other sources are now available for much of Nielsen’s data but said if competitors arise, the FCC should consider “whether such publications would better suit the purposes of its rules and the public interest.” The FCC doesn’t depend on Nielsen’s data just because of a lack of competition, Nielsen said. “Nielsen today faces fierce and increasing competition from Comscore and many others,” the filing said. Nielsen “has invested far more than any of its competitors in panel measurement and sampling to complement” the return path data from devices that other data companies use, Nielsen said.

“Only robust panel measurement, however, can tell you if someone is actually watching and who that person really is,” said the Nielsen filing. “Our competitors, for whatever reason, have chosen not to make the investments necessary to provide this kind of information. This, we believe, is at least in part why the Commission has chosen to rely on Nielsen’s services over the years.”

For assigning TV stations to designated market areas, broadcasters and MVPDs need to work from the same data source, but that consideration doesn’t apply to other FCC rules, NAB said. For matters “that do not require reliance on a single data source, the Commission should give fair and nondiscriminatory consideration to other sources of data,” NAB said.

“Putting aside questions of non-response bias, the idea that a few thousand households in any market is sufficient to specify detailed geographic boundaries of relevant media consumption is untenable,” said Comscore Chief Research Officer Michael Vinson in an email. “Return-path data, on the other hand, provides robust, large-scale measurement in every populated geography in the US, and is therefore a far more reliable source of local market boundaries.” Comscore is also seeking accreditation from the MRC.

“Many -- but not all -- of the issues cited by the [Media Ratings Council] are issues related to problems Nielsen encountered during COVID,” Nielsen said. “Nielsen has been working hard with the Council to address its concerns and hopes to have its accreditation restored in the near future.”

The FCC should also allow broadcast licensees that subscribe to other measurement services to have free or low-cost access to Nielsen's proprietary DMA information, NAB said. The reports that stations “must consult to comply with the FCC’s carriage rules are generally available only to Nielsen subscribers,” NAB said. The Local TV Report includes low-power and Class A stations only if they meet “certain internal reporting requirements,” Nielsen said. The data company will be able to generate a report for the FCC containing all low-power and Class A stations that could be made available to subscribers, Nielsen said. Since broadcasters are increasingly putting Top-4 network affiliates on LPTV stations, the LPTV DMA information is important, DirecTV said.

No commenters disagreed with the FCC’s proposal to shift from the Station Index Directory to the Local TV Report. “The Local TV Report is an appropriate ‘successor publication,’” said DirecTV. All commenters also supported the agency continuing to use the publications issued in the October two years before a given carriage election for determining DMA rather than the most recent publication. That timing “would ensure MVPDs and broadcasters have enough time to coordinate any adjustments necessitated by changed DMA assignments,” said NCTA.