The NFL is the #1 ratings-grabbing sport in the country, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy about how those ratings are tabulated.
Nielsen, the industry-standard measurement of television and media audience size in the U.S., is used to determine viewership, ad rates, and programming decisions.
However, for the 2026-2027 season, Nielsen has announced changes to how it measures audience size, specifically regarding co-viewership, more than one person viewing an event at the same place and time.
This move, initially welcomed by the NFL, has left the league office up in arms.
“Our concern is that this is going to make measurement for the upcoming season muddled,” NFL SVP of data and analytics Paul Ballew tells Front Office Sports (FOS). “It’s been a real struggle with Nielsen, and these latest changes raise even more questions for us.”
The crux of the issue for the NFL is how Nielsen measures co-viewing. As high as the league’s ratings are, Goodell’s gang believes the league’s viewership numbers are actually much higher than reported; much of the league’s scrutiny of Nielsen centers on how the ratings agency measures this key component.
First and foremost, the league has focused on Nielsen’s enhanced methodology for measuring co-viewing and the newly updated weighting formulas within the Big Data + Panel process.
The NFL believes its actual audience size is being massively underreported due to the large crowds that gather to watch the games and, as yet, an inaccurate way of measuring those crowds and factoring them into the ratings formula.
“The results we’ve seen so far are really negative for us, and for sports overall,” Ballew says. “This is not an abstract issue for us. It has a direct effect on our operations, and the decisions we make.”
As a sign of the heightened importance the league is placing on its audience measurement, reports say it is actively exploring additional providers.
“It is time for us to double down on our efforts to determine alternatives in the marketplace,” Ballew says.
Nielsen, for its part, says that it’s working hard to ensure proper audience measurement, and the majority of its partners back its long-term vision.
“Nielsen is delivering the most accurate TV measurement ever, especially when it comes to live sports. We have worked closely with clients, sports leagues, and industry regulators to constantly enhance our methodologies,” Nielsen said in a statement provided to FOS. “That includes the introduction of Big Data + Panel, the expansion of our Out of Home measurement, and a pilot test of co-viewing updates, which are all successful examples of collaboration that lead into the enhancements. The majority of our clients support these changes and this preseason timeline.”