CBS and Nielsen End Standoff, Reach New Measurement Agreement

CBS and Nielsen’s bitter face-off over a new measurement deal is finally over.

On Friday night, the companies reached a new deal for Nielsen national, digital and local audience measurement. In the  agreement, CBS Television Network, CBS Television Distribution, Showtime Networks, Smithsonian, Pop, CBS Sports Network and CBS’ 27 owned-and-operated local television stations will continue to use Nielsen’s Total Audience measurement services.

The two parties had been negotiating for six months but were unable to settle on a new agreement before their previous deal expired on Dec. 31, which complicated CBS’ ad buys.

That meant CBS no longer had access to current or historical data from the measurement company—the very metrics that much of its advertising inventory had been sold on. Buyers told Adweek last week that they were trying to determine how the dispute will affect their current ad inventory on the network.

Negotiations are being held up over pricing. CBS, whose last contract with Nielsen was worth around $100 million a year, said it wanted a deal that makes sense for the company and argued that Nielsen isn’t doing enough to measure the current platforms on which audiences consume content beyond linear TV.

Read more at: Adweek