Needham & Company Downgrades Nielsen Holdings (NLSN) to Hold; Data Error

Needham & Company downgraded Nielsen Holdings (NYSE: NLSN) from Buy to Hold.

Needham analyst says, "Press reports indicate that NLSN has informed clients that its core TV ratings product has been generating incorrect gross ratings points (GRPs), reach and frequency data since Feb 1, 2011. NLSN data is used as currency for the >$70B/year TV advertising market in the US. Press reports state that the glitch may overstate TV viewing in the key C+3 (live+3 day viewing of commercials) metric. If so, this would under-state “make-goods” (a requirement to deliver certain audience levels). In the worst case, this development may add litigation risk to NLSN, embolden potential competitors, encourage clients to adopt secondary ratings services, and/or slow adoption of NLSN’s new online ratings service. Or it may mean nothing. Until we better understand the consequences of this data error, we prefer to be on the sidelines."

For more ratings news on Nielsen Holdings click here and for the rating history of Nielsen Holdings click here.

Shares of Nielsen Holdings closed at $26.12 yesterday.

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