Nielsen Holdings Plc (NYSE:) continues to expand its clientele by renewing agreements with media and advertising companies.
The company recently renewed its agreement with Cox Media Group for television and audio measurement services. Per the new agreement, the media company is entitled to receive Nielsen’s service for all its local television and radio stations.
Cox Media is expected to enhance value for its advertisers by leveraging the data obtained from Nielsen. Notably, the renewal shows the reliability of Nielsen’s services.
Nielsen’s Watch Segment in Focus
Per the deal, the company’s Watch Segment will be responsible for providing viewership data and listening insights, which will aid Cox Media in understanding the audience in a better way.
Watch segment remains the key growth driver for Nielsen. In third-quarter 2018, this segment accounted for 53% of total revenues, reflecting an increase of 0.8% year over year.
Nielsen’s measurement services continue to gain traction among TV and media companies, which is likely to accelerate adoption rate. This, in turn, will aid the company’s well-performing Watch segment, consequently driving the top line.
Nielsen Holdings Plc Price and Consensus
Nielsen Holdings Plc Price and Consensus | Nielsen Holdings Plc Quote
Growing Clientele to Drive Top Line
Nielsen’s growing client adoption is expected to drive its top line in the near term. With its strong position in the television audience measurement market and focus on innovation, the company expects to gain new clients as well as opportunities from existing clients.
The company recently renewed its agreement with Hearst Television. Per the agreement, the company will utilize Nielsen’s ratings for local and national television and radio stations across its 26 local markets, syndicated programming and two Baltimore radio stations.
Nielsen also renewed its agreement with CBS Corporation (NYSE:) for total audio measurement services. Per the latest deal, Nielsen’s service will cover CBS Television Network, CBS Television Distribution, Showtime Networks, Smithsonian, Pop, CBS Sports Network and its 27 local television stations.
Raycom Media also renewed its agreement with Nielsen. It will utilize Nielsen’s television ratings for the purpose of audience measurement across many stations.
Competition
Nielsen operates in a highly competitive segment of the technology and media industry. Technological innovations in this segment pose a risk to the company’s position.
Recently, the company was dropped by Gray Television in favor of ComScore. Notably, Gray’s vice president of National Sales mentioned dropping Nielsen as “it does not have sufficient confidence in the new methodology.”
Nexstar Media Group too dropped Nielsen’s services, citing dissatisfaction with its ratings data. Moreover, Nexstar too signed up with ComScore for its audience measurement services.
Therefore, Nielsen must change its measurement methods to account for changing viewing habits and also bring in innovative measurement techniques to give better comparative data.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Currently, Nielsen carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader computer and technology sector include SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:) and Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:) . The two stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.
Expected long-term earnings growth rate for SS&C and Twitter is 13.5% and 22.1%, respectively.
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