Nielsen attracts streaming platforms as TV giants seek alternatives

Nielsen continues to court streaming platforms as traditional TV companies seek to diversify beyond it.

Driving the news: Nielsen announced a three-year deal with Amazon on Tuesday to measure its "Thursday Night Football" broadcasts on Prime Video and Twitch.

• Nielsen said this deal "will be the first time a streaming service will have one of its live programs measured as part of Nielsen's National TV measurement service."
• "Our collaboration with Nielsen will allow us to provide advertisers with familiar campaign measurement to make apples-to-apples comparisons across their multi-channel media investments,” Amazon Ads' director of media measurement Srishti Gupta said.

Why it matters: Nielsen still holds clout despite concern from major media companies and advertisers. Its Amazon deal gives it more staying power as broadcasters and ad buyers evaluate live programming.

• But it's more the newcomers who are using Nielsen data — when it suits them, of course.
• During its recent earnings call last month, Netflix executives touted their record 7.7% share of overall TV viewing in June based on Nielsen data.

The big picture: Traditional media companies like Disney, Paramount Global, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal have been testing new measurement solutions.

• Nielsen rivals include iSpot.tv and VideoAmp, both of which have recently raised new capital.

Yes, but: Many of this year's upfront deals will use Nielsen as other measurement partners are in a testing phase. GroupM, for example, said it will transact using Nielsen.

Meanwhile: Nielsen's private equity takeover is still ongoing. The company postponed its shareholder meeting last week "to finalize a preliminary agreement" with WindAcre.