Media mogul Byron Allen is suing Nielsen, claiming the scores firm was not forthcoming concerning the reliability of its viewers measurement information for smaller TV networks.
The swimsuit filed Wednesday within the Circuit Courtroom of Prepare dinner County, Ailing., mentioned Nielsen dedicated fraud when it agreed to supply scores to Allen’s Leisure Studio Networks, a bunch of seven area of interest TV channels which have restricted distribution on cable and satellite tv for pc programs.
Viewers ranges for smaller networks are tougher to measure and usually tend to be topic to errors.
Allen’s swimsuit lands at a time when New York-based Nielsen has been below assault from its dissatisfied purchasers who use Nielsen scores information to set promoting charges. Some media firms, reminiscent of NBCUniversal, have begun to make use of various companies for viewers measurement.
The accuracy of the corporate’s information — drawn from a pattern of 40,000 properties geared up to measure viewing habits — has been questioned all through the media business lately as viewers more and more flip to streaming companies for his or her video content material.
Nielsen needed to admit that it undercounted TV viewing through the pandemic as COVID-19 well being protocols stored the corporate from updating its panel of properties. The corporate additionally acknowledged it undercounted out-of-home viewing from September 2021 by means of January 2022. Media firms say the discrepancies have price them tens of millions of dollars in advert income.
The lawsuit cites a litany of criticisms and issues Nielsen has confronted lately. However the crux of Allen’s criticism is that Nielsen persuaded executives at his firm so as to add his Leisure Studios Networks channels to its current contract in 2017, including “vital charges” to what was already being paid (Allen additionally owns the Climate Channel and practically two dozen network-affiliated TV stations) and so they have been sad with the outcomes.
Nielsen executives allegedly advised the corporate that the viewers for ESN channels may very well be reliably counted, despite the fact that that they had restricted distribution (the swimsuit doesn't state the present variety of households the channels attain), and that the depend would finally profit advert gross sales. “These representations have been, and are, false,” the swimsuit mentioned.
Leisure Studios started receiving scores information for the channels in 2017. The corporate mentioned its personal inside information confirmed that Nielsen’s experiences “didn't seize” the viewers viewing the channels, which embrace Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV, Vehicles.TV, Pets.TV, MyDestination.TV, ES.TV and JusticeCentral.TV. The corporate alleges its viewing information for the Climate Channel is inaccurate as nicely, as its viewers has shrunk due to elevated competitors.
A consultant for Nielsen declined to touch upon Allen’s swimsuit.
Allen beforehand had a long-running authorized battle with Comcast Corp. The mogul alleged racism by the cable juggernaut, saying it refused to supply his TV channels in its cable bundles as a result of he’s Black. Comcast disputed the declare.
The 2015 swimsuit, which reached all the best way to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom, was settled in 2020 for undisclosed phrases.
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