Zenith Reups Nielsen Local Ratings Contract

Nielsen said today that Zenith, part of Publicis Media, signed a new agreement for Nielsen’s Local Television Measurement. The renewal will provide Zenith with continued access to Nielsen’s local currency television ratings data across all 210 designated market areas.

“At Zenith, we believe in having access to the most accurate and complete measurement data that provides us with a total market view of local TV audiences,” said Joe Cerone, Zenith EVP of local media investments. “Nielsen is making substantial investments in its local measurement solutions, and we look forward to the evolution of the market currency combining the best that panels, return path, census data, OTT and other sources have to offer to measure the total viewing audience.”

This year, as part of the company’s local TV strategy, Nielsen is increasing the size of its panels by directly incorporating personal people meter measurement and by bringing set-top box data to all 210 DMAs. With these enhancements, Nielsen says, “media companies and agencies will have more accurate data, increased ratings fidelity, and richer local, in-market consumer insights.”

“In today’s fragmented media environment, media buyers need access to dependable, actionable and accurate data that facilitates the advertising planning and buying process. Nielsen’s wide range of solutions enables agencies like Zenith to effectively deliver on an advertiser’s campaign objectives while helping them uncover new audiences and consumer segments,” said Michael Sharp, managing director for Nielsen Local Agencies. “The enhancements that we are making to our Local TV service not only strengthen the measurement, but continue to bring the same level of confidence to the marketplace that the advertising industry has historically relied on to transact Local TV media buys across all markets. We are pleased to renew our agreement with Zenith and look forward to building on our ongoing relationship.”

Zenith will use Nielsen’s suite of local TV services including Nielsen Local TV View (NLTV) and Nielsen Scarborough for their media planning and buying process. 

“These improvements are the key to the future of Local TV measurement,” said Frank Friedman, President of Local Media Investments at Publicis Media Exchange. “The addition of Nielsen electronic meters in the 140 markets currently measured by paper diaries will provide the complete market coverage that lacks from solely using return path data. We are encouraged by Nielsen’s continued advances in Local TV measurement.”