Raycom Media Renews Nielsen Contract

The new agreement provides for local ratings and insights services in LPM and SET/code reader markets for select Raycom TV stations.

By TVN Staff | December 28, 2018 | 8:00 a.m. ET.

In one of its last acts as an independent station group, Raycom Media today agreed to reup 12 of its larger stations in 10 markets for Nielsen’s local ratings.

The new contract kicks in on Jan. 1.

The stations: WBTV Charlotte, N.C.; WBRC Birmingham, WXIX Cincinnati; WMC Memphis, Tenn.; WVUE New Orleans; WWBT-WUPV Richmond, Va.; WFLX West Palm Beach, Fla.; WCSC Charleston, S.C.; KFVS/WQWQ Paducah, Ky.-Cape Girardeau, Mo.; KOLD Tucson, Ariz.; and WWSB Tampa-St. Petersburg.

Notably absent from the list is Raycom’s largest market station, WOIO Cleveland.

Gray Television is expected to close on its acquisition of Raycom today or Monday, and last week Gray announced last week that it was not renewing its Nielsen contract for any of its stations, which expires at the end of this year. Instead, it said, it will rely on the rival Comscore ratings service.

At the time, Gray said its non-renewal decision did not extend to Raycom, over which it had not yet acquired control.

BRAND CONNECTIONS

The 10-market Raycom deal also includes the viewing and consumer behavior and insight tools of Arianna, NLTV, Ad Intel and Scarborough-Local.