• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 9, 2021

In his second letter to Nielsen's customers in as many weeks, CEO David Kenny seeks to quell fears about the credibility of the company’s ratings services in the wake of the Media Rating Council’s (MRC) pulling their accreditation, and touts its plans for innovating more inclusive and representative measurement in the future.

The letter, released this morning, comes along with an interview Kenny gave to another advertising trade publication asserting that Nielsen will regain MRC accreditation “within months,” but that Nielsen’s primary focus is the development of its next-generation cross-platform audience measurement service, dubbed “Nielsen One.”

“We haven’t been perfect. We were slow to explain how the health and safety-related measures we took led to a reduction of our panel size,” Kenny concedes in today’s letter, adding: “We have increased the frequency and openness of our communications and will share future developments in a more timely and transparent manner. We have and will continue to respond to the MRC and our clients on areas we can improve, as their audiences are changing at a rapid pace. We hear and sincerely value this feedback."

The substance of the letter is virtually identical to one that Kenny published on September 9.