MRC Revokes, Denies Nearly Two Dozen Nielsen PPM Markets

Nielsen’s PPM (personal portable meter) service has lost Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation in four major radio markets – Baltimore, Jacksonville, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh – and has been denied accreditation for 18 additional markets that had been under review:

  • Austin

  • Boston

  • Dallas

  • Hartford

  • Houston

  • Las Vegas

  • Memphis

  • advertisement

    advertisement

    Nashville

  • New York

  • Norfolk

  • Orlando

  • Providence

  • Raleigh

  • Sacramento

  • San Francisco

  • Seattle

  • Washington DC

  • West Palm Beach

The MRC did not explain the reason for the accreditation revocations and denials, which were disclosed Friday in its quarterly updates on accreditation status.

While the MRC continued accreditation for 24 Nielsen PPM markets, the loss and denial of other radio markets comes at a contentious time for Nielsen and the radio industry, which has been challenging Nielsen’s so-called “subscriber-first” business model requiring stations and markets to pay Nielsen before their audience estimates are reported as part of market share data.

And while it isn’t clear why the MRC revoked and/or denied accreditation for dozens of Nielsen radio markets, they all utilize the same PPM technology that Nielsen has begun incorporating into its “enhancements” for measuring viewing in its Big Data + panel advertising currency.

Specifically, Nielsen conducted a pilot study earlier this year, and has decided to move ahead to begin using the “wearable” metering technology as a factor in estimating so-called “co-viewing” in both its Big Data and people meter panel households.

“Now we’ve got over 80,000 of them,” Nielsen Senior Vice President-Product Strategy and Thought Leadership Brian Fuhrer said during an interview with MediaPost in August explaining some of the factors and adjustments Nielsen is applying as part of its enhancements beginning with the 2026-27 television season.

Fuhrer said Nielsen decided to begin utilizing the wearable metering technology because while its legacy people meters are good at confirming that the person pushing the meter’s buttons are in a room watching TV, they are not able to measure others in the room.

Fuhrer could not say exactly what weight Nielsen is giving to the wearables in its co-viewing estimates, but implied they were part of a variety of factors for assigning the presence of other people in the room watching linear broadcast, cable and streaming services in its Big Data plus panel service.

Next story loading loading..