The Media Rating Council has voted to continue its suspension of Nielsen’s accreditation status, according to a letter the council sent to clients Friday night obtained by Ad Age.

The news comes over a year since the MRC withdrew its support of the company as the only accredited source for measuring U.S. TV audiences when it was found to be undercounting viewers, particularly those young and diverse, during the pandemic. This also comes ahead of the launch of Nielsen One, the company’s response to the rise in digital and cross-platform viewing.

“The audit committee voting on the status of Nielsen's national television service has been completed,” wrote the MRC. “Members voted in favor of retaining the current suspended status and holding our consideration of accreditation open.”

The letter also noted the MRC would provide Nielsen with a “list of material non-compliance situations and open areas, including the relevant commitments made by Nielsen with the committed timing for each. And we'll use this list to establish a timing for reassessment of accreditation status by the audit committee.”

“It is profoundly disappointing that someone has shared a confidential document that presents only one side of the story on Nielsen's National TV service,” MRC Senior VP-Associate Director David Gunzerath said in a statement. “While it is true the existing suspension of MRC accreditation remains in place at the current time, it is also true that we believe Nielsen has made significant progress on most of the issues that led to that suspension, and MRC continues to actively work with Nielsen on a path to address the remaining issues so that a consideration of reinstatement of accreditation to the National TV service may occur relatively soon.”

A Nielsen spokesperson did not immediately return a request to comment. 

Nielsen has been without MRC accreditation for its national TV service based on its household panel since September 2021, though Nielsen CEO David Kenny predicted last year that restoration of accreditation would be a matter of months, not years.

Nielsen One and rivals

Nielsen has yet to apply for accreditation of Nielsen One, which also incorporates data from millions of set-top boxes and smart TVs. The company intends for that next-generation measurement tool to begin operating fully by year-end.

Accreditation of Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) also remains under MRC review since its accreditation was suspended and later dropped last year. DAR is used as part of currency measurement for connected TV programming from Amazon Prime, Fox’s Tubi and is planned to be used sometime next year for Netflix advertising.

In total, that means no service currently used to measure TV or CTV audiences in the U.S. is accredited by the MRC, an industry self-regulatory group established in the 1960s to improve and ensure the accuracy of audience measurement.

Nielsen rivals Comscore and iSpot.tv also have applications in process for at least portions of their TV measurement services, and VideoAmp has signaled an intention to join them. Regardless, Nielsen remains the dominant currency for TV deals in the U.S., where it runs the most expensive and profitable TV measurement business in the world, even if Nielsen faces growing criticism.

Amazon Prime contracted with Nielsen as currency for “Thursday Night Football” this year, but regularly publishes its own set of numbers alongside Nielsen, based in part on input from an unnamed third party. And other networks have been moving to do more deals on other currencies, with NBCUniversal saying 40% of its upfront deals this year were written on non-Nielsen currencies.

Industry reaction

“The post-audit decision to deny re-accreditation for Nielsen’s national panel ratings service is first: reflective of the ad market mandate for vastly improved cross-platform video measurement and currency; and second: a neon 'N1 not ready' sign,” Sean Cunningham, president and CEO of the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) said in a statement, referring to Nielsen One. “The national panel is the second foundational piece of N1, along with 'Big Data,' that failed their N1 auditions and appear to have a long way to go as key drivers of N1’s stated purpose and promise. We’re united with advertisers in our shared desire for thoroughly modern cross-media measurement, just as the entire ad marketplace is also loudly insisting that both the pieces and the whole have to be held to higher standards.”