The Nielsen saga continues. After recently overhauling their data-collecting methodology to account for non-television streaming numbers, Nielsen has admitted to underestimating TV viewership numbers in their reports, whilst overestimating streaming numbers.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter, using information from The Wall Street Journal, broke the story on March 27. Reportedly, Nielsen’s new methodology has undersold traditional television viewership numbers by 15%, and has overstated streaming statistics by an undisclosed margin. This vast discrepancy has caused a stir in the broadcasting and advertising industries, who largely rely on Nielsen’s ratings when planning advertisements on broadcast and streaming services.
Sources claim that Nielsen was aware of their methodological inaccuracies as recently as “a few weeks ago,” where a combination of new data and television-centric programs such as the Super Bowl and the Olympics caused television numbers to overtake their streaming counterparts. Youtube and Netflix reportedly “freaked out” following the report, and Nielsen held back on publishing their findings to provide “additional data” to other troubled clients.
Nielsen was forced to reassess their practices following The Wall Street Journal’s story. While Nielsen will not make any changes to their methodology ahead of the February Gauge, their monthly television usage analysis report, in order to phase out their old methodology and protect streaming numbers, the ratings giant will begin to integrate DASH data, or data gathered from video-capable streaming devices such as smartphones and tablets. Several figureheads in broadcasting and streaming studies have heavily criticized Nielsen’s recent behavior, and Nielsen themselves admitted fault in their plans to, once again, overhaul their system.
While Nielsen’s recent overhaul saw a temporary bump to several wrestling television programs, longer shows, especially episodes of “Dynamite,” “Collision,” and “SmackDown” with an over-90 minute run time, initially suffered. With April’s high-stakes wrestling schedule quickly approaching, however, shows from both WWE and AEW have seen upticks in viewership prior to Nielsen’s methodological revisions.