• by Wayne Friedman , September 2, 2021

News that The Media Rating Council would be suspending accreditation of Nielsen Holdings’ high-profile national TV ratings service has had little effect on the media research company’s stock price so far.

Through Thursday, Nielsen’s stock closed virtually flat for the week, down 0.2% to $21.21. The reaction of the MRC decision on Wednesday pushed the stock down slightly, to 1.6%.

This isn’t to say that investors are not concerned about the research company.

Since May 17, the company’s stock was at $28.10, and has since fallen 25%.

On May 10, the MRC confirmed that persons 18-49 were “understated” by about 2% to 6% in the Nielsen Total Usage of Television (TUT) metric in February 2021.

About a month before that date, on April 9, the VAB announced there was a sharp "undercounting of overall TV use" as a result of the lack of Nielsen field maintenance for its 40,000 national TV home panel/sample, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nielsen says field agents started maintenance chores again beginning in March.

In mid-July, the VAB asked the MRC to pull Nielsen’s accreditation for its national TV rating service.

Year-to-date, Nielsen's stock price is up a slight 1.7%. During that period, the S&P 500 Index grew 21%.