In an advertising marketplace disparity that likely has not been seen since Arbitron and Nielsen competed as currencies for local TV advertising buys decades ago, a report released this morning suggests the gap is far worse for the burgeoning online video advertising business. Pivotal Research Group’s Brian Wieser shows audience estimates produced by comScore, the current Madison Avenue standard, to be about three times higher than those being produced by challenger Nielsen.
Nielsen is investigating problems that affected results for the May sweeps period, including errors in the diary printing process, sources say. The misprinting affected how people could properly fill out the documents, which are the sole ratings drivers in 150-plus local markets.
Nielsen Thursday disclosed yet another software glitch — this one affecting four months of its weekly syndication all-minute respondent-level data file.
