Nielsen has notified clients that it is
terminating its decades-old radio advertising monitoring and verification service SIGMA Radio.
The service, which is used by broadcasters, advertisers and agencies to verify that radio ads and
public service announcements actually aired, is one of a suite of advertising and content monitoring, watermarking and verification services that currently fall within the Nielsen Tracking Services
division.
In its notice to clients, Nielsen said SIGMA radio will terminate effective March 31, and its last daily report will be delivered April 1, while its last weekly report will be
delivered April 6.
"Clients [are] scrambling to find a replacement," one long-time Nielsen SIGMA Radio client tells MediaPost, adding, "And, it won’t be easy for many to move to
Media Monitors because they need Nielsen audience numbers which is something Media Monitors cannot directly provide."
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Media Monitors
operates a competing media monitoring service that tracks and verifies that radio ads aired, but not what their audiences are estimated to be.
SIGMA Radio began life as Broadcast Data Service
and has gone through several technology and branding iterations.
