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Nielsen, Amazon Prime spar over who really watches football

Amazon has reported higher ratings for its broadcast than the ratings service has every week
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Arizona Cardinals running back Keaontay Ingram (30) celebrate his touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

By the Nielsen company鈥檚 count, 7.8 million people watched Amazon Prime鈥檚 coverage of last Thursday鈥檚 NFL game between New Orleans and Arizona. But Amazon says no, there were actually 8.9 million people watching.

So which is it?

You鈥檒l have to judge for yourself. After each of its Thursday night games this season, Amazon has publicly contradicted Nielsen in this manner, one of the boldest challenges ever to a company that for generations has monopolized the count of people watching programs on television.

Neither company is saying the other is wrong, but neither is backing down, either. The result is confusion, most notably for advertisers.

Nielsen, as it has for years, follows the viewing habits in a panel of homes across the country and, from that limited sample, derives an estimate of how many people watch a particular program. That number is currency in the media industry, meaning it is used to determine advertising rates.

Amazon, in the first year of an 11-year contract to stream Thursday night games, says it has an actual count of every one of its subscribers who streams it 鈥 not an estimate. The games are also televised in the local markets of the participating teams, about 9% of its total viewership each week, and Amazon uses Nielsen鈥檚 estimate for that portion of the total.

鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 put out our number if we weren鈥檛 comfortable that it was accurate,鈥 said Jay Marine, vice president of Amazon Prime Video and head of its sports department.

Through six weeks, Nielsen says the Thursday night games have averaged 10.3 million viewers. Amazon says the average is 12.1 million. Amazon鈥檚 estimate has been bigger than Nielsen鈥檚 each week.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 at all believe that Amazon鈥檚 numbers are not right,鈥 said Connie Kim, Nielsen spokeswoman. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 believe that our numbers are not right.鈥

Since different methodologies are being used, it鈥檚 no surprise that there are differences in the estimate, she said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take a little time,鈥 Kim said. 鈥淎s it evolves it should be one number. But we鈥檙e not quite there yet.鈥

For now, ad prices for the Thursday games are set using Nielsen鈥檚 numbers. But Amazon clearly has an incentive to let clients know that it believes more people are actually watching.

鈥淵ou have to remember that this is new 鈥 new for Nielsen and it鈥檚 the first time there鈥檚 been actual data for an event like this,鈥 Marine said.

The dispute has clear implications for the future. Streamers haven鈥檛 had much incentive for measurements of daily viewing to be publicized, in part because people don鈥檛 watch their shows the same way as broadcast television, and they haven鈥檛 needed numbers verified from a third-party source for advertisers.

But with Netflix about to introduce advertising, that can all change very rapidly. And if other companies develop technology that can measure viewing more precisely, the precedent has now been set for publicly disputing Nielsen鈥檚 numbers.

鈥擠avid Bauder, The Associated Press

RELATED: Why NFL鈥檚 very rich owners are about to get even richer





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