Allen Media Files Multi-Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Nielsen

Byron Allen’s media companies Weather Group, Entertainment Studios Networks (ESN) and CF Entertainment filed suit against Nielsen seeking billions of dollars in damages for “fraudulent misrepresentation and fraud by concealment.”

The lawsuit asserts that there has been tremendous fragmentation in the industry and proliferation of channels, rendering the Nielsen panel ratings system antiquated, highly unreliable and fundamentally flawed.

Also, the suit claims, Nielsen told Allen’s companies that its panel system could reliably rate ESN even though the networks had limited distribution at the time. The lawsuit alleges that Nielsen knew, but failed to disclose, that the panel system was unreliable across all networks, and that the system was totally unreliable for networks like the ESN.

The lawsuit further alleges that Nielsen concealed these facts and thereby caused Entertainment Studios and the Weather Group to pay millions in fees. The lawsuit identifies several other networks that similarly received fundamentally unreliable services from Nielsen.

Recently, the Nielsen panel system has come under scrutiny for how poorly the system performed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Per the lawsuit, “Kelly Abcarian of NBCUniversal, who worked at Nielsen for 16 years and left as its general manager and head of product advanced video advertising, publicly acknowledged that the industry can no longer rely on the Nielsen outdated measurement systems. Industry groups, such as the Video Advertising Bureau, have said that Nielsen underreported viewership across all networks, costing the industry billions of dollars in losses.”

Byron Allen, Allen Media Group founder, owner and CEO, said: “The industry has suffered billions of dollars in losses, and we can no longer afford these damages. Nielsen needs to quickly address these issues. If not, I highly expect that Nielsen will soon face a $10 billion-plus class-action lawsuit.”

The plaintiffs’ counsel is Skip Miller, a partner in Miller Barondess, LLP in Los Angeles. He said: “This case goes to the heart of the Nielsen television ratings system. It’s going to be up to a judge and jury to determine the system’s viability, and I look forward to our day in court.”