Paramount Global and VideoAmp have extended their ratings measurement partnership as the media giant’s contract dispute with Nielsen drags on.
Under the renewal agreement, VideoAmp will continue to provide Paramount with demographic and advanced audience measurement data for 40 million households.
“We’re proactive in measurement and currency as an investment in our future,” Paramount Advertising president John Halley said in a statement. “Through our long-standing partnership with VideoAmp, we’re able to collectively drive innovation and accelerate progress by delivering advertisers and agencies the tools to make smarter, data-driven decisions.”
The announcement comes as Paramount’s standoff with Nielsen enters its fourth month — the Paramount-Nielsen contract expired without a new deal on Oct. 1.
VideoAMP covers 98% of the TV publisher ecosystem, with its measurement and currency solutions adopted by over 50 agency groups and more than 1,000 advertisers.
In addition to Paramount, the company’s partners include A+E Networks, Allen Media Group, IPG Mediabrands, NBCUniversal and Omnicom Media Group, RPA, TelevisaUnivision and Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Paramount has been an incredibly valued partner over the past three years and was one of the first media companies to transact on VideoAmp at scale,” VideoAmp executive vice president of revenue Bryan Goski added. “We are excited to continue to grow our partnership, leading the industry in
measurement and advanced currency solutions driven by big data and tech which ultimately deliver better and more measurable results.”
Paramount has argued that Nielsen’s costs as a percentage of the company’s ad revenue have “quintupled” over significant parts of its business, and proposed fees exceed the total ad revenue of the network being measured in some instances. In the interim, the company has been using VideoAmp as its data partner and has said it’s prepared to make a permanent switch.
Meanwhile, Nielsen says that Paramount is demanding a “nearly 50% reduction” in the price of its service, which “not only undervalues our substantial investments, but makes it unsustainable to provide the support and quality that all Nielsen clients rely upon.”
“We can not reset the value of our services to a fraction of their worth due to the circumstances and demands of one client,” CEO Karthik Rao said in a memo in November. “We are an industry solution and price integrity matters for the role we play in the industry.”
VideoAmp recently revealed it has $3 billion in guaranteed currency as of the close of 2024, marking an 880% year over year increase. Netflix recently struck a deal with VideoAmp to deliver cross-screen and live viewership measurement starting with the launch of WWE.
Beyond its continued partnership with Paramount, VideoAmp is also offering agencies and advertisers a “no-cost trial” to its Content Analysis Ratings Dashboard (CARD) through March 31 as part of an effort to offset costs. The move follows multiple rounds of layoffs and the departure of former VideoAmp CEO Ross McCrary last year.
It also comes after Nielsen pulled Paramount data from its Media Information Tape, a service provided to advertising agencies that acts as a one-stop shop to view ratings and check them against their ad buys to determine if they hit their targets. At the time, Nielsen told TheWrap that all of its clients would continue to have a “full view of the marketplace” as it continues to measure Paramount’s networks and streaming services.
“We are committed to supporting our clients through this measurement evolution, ensuring they have the resources necessary to transact,” VideoAmp Chief Commercial and Growth Officer Peter Bradbury said in a memo last month. “We remain dedicated to helping the industry navigate this shift to a multi-currency world as 2025 commences, and we approach the forthcoming upfront.”
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