Nielsen Flushes Funky Tampa Household

The industry has been closely monitoring the potentially explosive ratings situation in Tampa, where, in a story first covered (or “uncovered”) by consultant Randy Kabrich, the stream of Beasley Media Spanish Contemporary WYUU (92.5 Maxima) had rocketed from nowhere to No. 1 among persons 18-34 in Tampa in the January 2017 weekly PPM ratings. Yesterday we received word from Nielsen that the company has now removed a questionable Tampa PPM household from its panel.

In a statement, a Nielsen spokesperson said, “In early February, we identified a household in Tampa whose meter wearing compliance warranted additional coaching. Per our standard operating procedure, we conducted an on-site visit of the household and provided subsequent training to ensure proper usage of the PPM device. Following the training visit, the household’s meter wearing compliance behavior did not change and per our quality assurance procedures, we removed the home effective with the start of the March survey.”

Beasley Broadcast Group weighed in on Nielsen’s decision, as Chief Operating Officer Brian Beasley stated, “Our company and other broadcasters play no role in selecting panelists and households for inclusion in PPM data gathering. In the case of the Tampa household that was removed from the PPM panel, it was Nielsen that chose to have two different users in that household be PPM participants. Most notably, we do not and have never had any relationship or contact with the household or users removed from Nielsen’s Tampa panel of PPM holders.” For his part, Kabrich has posted some updated and noteworthy observations on his blog.