Nielsen further delays ‘Gauge’ report after streamer’s response
Nielsen said it will further delay the release of its popular “Gauge,” a monthly snapshot of viewing on linear and digital screens, after some customers became alarmed by a drop in streaming audiences following a decision by the measurement giant to add new data to its mix.
“While we had planned to share February’s The Gauge and Media Distributor Gauge on March 24, we will delay delivery of both reports,” Nielsen Chief Client Officer Peter Naylor said in a letter issued Friday and reviewed by Variety. “We will not be making any methodological changes for The February Gauge and will release it in April using the same methodology we used for January.”
It involved the rollout earlier this year of new data showing how U.S. households connect to and consume TV, use video-enabled digital devices, and interact with and share streaming media and e-commerce accounts. The survey, known as DASH, is a syndicated study conducted in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago, a polling firm. Nielsen had previously told customers that use of the data could result in a one-time expansion of the number of households, or “universe,” that watch cable and broadcast television, and a possible reduction in the total audience that watches streaming.
Nielsen will pause the release of “The Gauge” in March to “minimize trend breaks,” Naylor said. “We will be pushing updates to the Gauge methodology towards the start of the fall season, in line with additional promised improvements to our currency products.” Nielsen understands “there will be varying opinions on this issue among our broad customer base, but we believe this is the best and least disruptive path forward for the industry.”
Nielsen’s Gauge has become a new high point in the industry’s never-ending struggle to count audiences spread across dozens of screens and with different viewing habits. But the push-and-pull behind the scenes on the next release shows that Nielsen will have to serve a new generation of customers – companies like Amazon, Roku and Netflix – that could be just as challenging as traditional customers like CBS, Fox and NBC.
The next Gauge was expected to show an increase in cable and television viewership, driven in part by the new DASH data, but also by the attention paid in recent weeks to the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl, both broadcast and streamed via NBC and Peacock. The rise of traditional TV is not expected to continue in the longer term, Nielsen has indicated, but the expansion of streaming will.
When Nielsen first started releasing “Gauge” data updates, it did so as a way to demonstrate its measurement capabilities as streaming was on the rise. But the company never saw it as a data set that would be used by media or streaming companies to determine policy.
“Because The Gauge is not a product, we did not provide much impact data in advance. We regret this.” Naylor said in the letter. The company plans to continue improving its data methodologies, which have been expanded in recent months to include so-called “Big Data” that reflects interactions captured through smart TVs. “The goal is to better align The Gauge with these changes over the long term, as seamlessly as possible. We will walk your teams through that in more detail,” said Naylor.
