Tag: local ratings

Cumulus Media is suing Nielsen in federal court in New York alleging that the company is illegally leveraging its dominance over national and local radio audience data to stifle rivals and charge inflated prices, according to a report by Reuters. At the heart of the complaint is the charge that Nielsen is providing access to the national broadcast radio ratings only if the client spends a lot of extra money on the separate local ratings. Cumulus argues that Nielsen’s policy forces them to buy ratings in U.S. markets where it doesn’t operate stations in order to have the complete national ratings data. Nielsen has stated that Cumulus’ suit is “entirely without merit” and “we will respond accordingly.” The complaint also says Nielsen is “degrading product quality, raising prices without justification and blocking competitors from gaining footholds in the industry.” See the Reuters story here.