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Nielsen Begins Layoffs That Will Reduce Its Global Workforce By 9%.

DavidEduardo

DavidEduardo

Moderator/Administrator
Staff member
Bulletin from Inside Radio:

Nielsen today announced it will enact a massive round of layoffs to reduce its global workforce by about 9%. The measurement giant’s second reduction in force this year under its new private equity owners will begin today for employees being impacted in the U.S. According to a Nielsen spokesperson, the RIF is intended to “bring costs in line with our revenues and to ensure the company's financial strength for the future.”

I don't know yet how this affects the radio measurement division.
 
Don CT said:
Private equity just doing their usual gutting.
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Businesses aren’t in existence to overspend when circumstances change. It’s got nothing to do with private equity.

Any business, public or private (and any variation within private) sometimes need to adjust. It sucks. It hurts good people. It can be devastating. And there are undoubtedly some people who wield the budget axe with too much ferocity and an eye toward self-benefit. That’s not unique to any particular type of organization.
 
Kelly A said:
There have been an increasing number of groups, TV and radio, that have moved on to other ratings/data brands.
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There is at present no alternative in major market radio. There are, of course, alternatives in streaming but they lack the demographic data that Nielsen provides.
 
Don CT said:
Private equity just doing their usual gutting.
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This is the most accurate analysis. Increase the cash flow, even if long term prospects are diminshed
 
Kelly A said:
Apparently, there are but I'm not at liberty to discuss who.
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There are measurements based on streams of radio, but other than one small-market ratings company, there is no current measure of broadcast radio..

If we look at the announcement today from iHeart, as posted here at https://www.radiodiscussions.com/th...idding-for-its-broadcast-ad-inventory.766705/ we can see they obviously will have data on their own reach by some new categories. But that sounds like proprietary information only for iHeart stations, not the industry as a whole.
 
boombox4 said:
The Wiki says 15K. As of December 2022. Minus 9% (and whatever percent was let go a few months ago) that would be more like 13 or 14K now?
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The original article says the 15K is worldwide, and 6200 in the US. It also confirms that 30 people have already been let go.

www.insideradio.com

Sweeping Layoffs Begin At Nielsen As Company Cuts Global Workforce By 9%.

Nielsen announced it will enact a massive round of layoffs to reduce its global workforce by about 9%. The measurement giant’s second reduction in force this year under its new
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com
 
DavidEduardo said:
There are measurements based on streams of radio, but other than one small-market ratings company, there is no current measure of broadcast radio..

If we look at the announcement today from iHeart, as posted here at https://www.radiodiscussions.com/th...idding-for-its-broadcast-ad-inventory.766705/ we can see they obviously will have data on their own reach by some new categories. But that sounds like proprietary information only for iHeart stations, not the industry as a whole.
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You're not too far off, because the assumption is some of these groups are going to switch from pure radio to streaming measurements. The same goes for some major local TV groups. But again; I'm not at liberty to share specific details. Given this somewhat underground movement, Nielsen should be concerned.
 
Well, as everything goes online, the websites seem to have their own metrics, and I think some of them use other services to track visit numbers. I have a blog and the site provides visit numbers in the stats. I think if I wanted to pay for more data more of it would be available -- at least to a certain extent. I'm sure with large websites the data mining aspect used to provide targeted ads is already in place. Once a TV or radio network goes online, they're not too much different from any other website..... Clicks, time spent on whatever part of the site, engagement, use of tracking, etc.

Nielsen seems to be mostly OTA based. I would wager they're working on a service they'd provide to websites and online networks. If they aren't, there probably is cause for concern.
 
boombox4 said:
Nielsen seems to be mostly OTA based. I would wager they're working on a service they'd provide to websites and online networks. If they aren't, there probably is cause for concern.
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Nielsen's PPM is audio based. They can measure any audio source that can encode. The advantage of measuring metered households is that precise demographic data is available for each user. This allows age and gender ranges, ethnic distinctions and education, location and income stratification.

Beyond that, the PPM can measure "television" whether cable, OTA or streams, too. The encoding of TV is a bit of a challenge due to periods with low or unencodable audio, but the video may work fine just by identifying program usage and not total minute by minute viewing.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Nielsen's PPM is audio based. They can measure any audio source that can encode.
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All of this is great for advertiser-based media. But what about the subscription model? They don't need some outside company telling them how many subscribers they have, or who they are. They already know. So subscription media, such as SiriusXM, Spotify, Apple Music, etc, don't need Nielsen measuring services. Even ad-based streaming services already know who's using them, and they have all of their personal information, such as their credit card numbers.
 
TheBigA said:
All of this is great for advertiser-based media. But what about the subscription model? They don't need some outside company telling them how many subscribers they have, or who they are. They already know.
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But ad-sponsored media is different. Advertisers have specific targets, which require demographic data. In subscriber based streams, all the provider needs to know is if they will get paid.
TheBigA said:
So subscription media, such as SiriusXM, Spotify, Apple Music, etc, don't need Nielsen measuring services.
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Which was not my point. Any electronic ad medium needs data on the users that identifies consumer groups.
TheBigA said:
Even ad-based streaming services already know who's using them, and they have all of their personal information, such as their credit card numbers.
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They only know who is paying the bill. In many cases, we have family plans for Internet connections, cell phones and cable. There is no identification of the specific user.

Advertisers require far more specific data than "total subscribers" or even "total dwelling units".
 
DavidEduardo said:
Advertisers require far more specific data than "total subscribers" or even "total dwelling units".
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Correct, but the differences between ad-supported and subscription have not been brought into this discussion.

Nielsen's problem is the growth of subscription services that don't need their information.
 
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