Nielsen’s pricing for its Nationwide radio ratings will remain frozen at pre-injunction levels for now, after an appeals court stepped in to pause enforcement of a lower-court ruling that sharply restricted how the ratings provider can price and sell its national product.
In a one-page order issued January 16, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted an administrative stay of the preliminary injunction issued December 30 by US District Judge Jeannette Vargas, while referring Nielsen’s request for a full stay pending appeal to the next available three-judge motions panel. The order pauses enforcement of the injunction and preserves the status quo while appellate judges consider Nielsen’s motion.
The underlying injunction blocked Nielsen’s Network Policy and prohibited the company from charging what the court described as a “commercially unreasonable” rate for its standalone Nationwide report. Nielsen has warned that if the injunction ultimately takes effect, it may be unable to recover the costs of collecting the local radio ratings data that underpin the Nationwide product.
In sworn filings, Nielsen Audio head Rich Tunkel has said that outcome could force the company to retire the Nationwide report altogether, a move that would remove the core measurement currency used to transact national radio advertising. Networks rely on Nationwide data to prove audience delivery to agencies, and its loss could disrupt national buying and place added pressure on smaller broadcasters that depend on network revenue.
The administrative stay does not decide the appeal, but it prevents immediate enforcement of the injunction while the motions panel evaluates whether a longer stay is warranted. If the panel declines to extend relief, the injunction could snap back into effect even as the appeal continues, reviving the risk that Nielsen’s Nationwide ratings product could be pulled from the market.
