Nielsen Set to Release New Streaming Data in TV’s Measurement Wars (EXCLUSIVE)

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorShares of media-measurement kingpin Nielsen Holdings PLC surged more than 40% Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported the company had started talks with a group of private-equity firms, including Elliott Management Corp., for a sale that could be valued at approximately $15 billion, including debt.Elliott Management has a reputation for pressing for big changes at the companies in which it invests, and has in the past called for different management of companies including Barnes & Noble. Interpublic Group and AT&T.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSymone D. Sanders will take over the 4 p.m. weekend slot on MSNBC as the NBCUniversal-owned network continues to bolster opinion programming over hours devoted to straight news reportage.The former media strategist, who has helped two prominent Democrats in presidential campaigns, will kick off her first show on Saturday, May 7, at 4 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCAA has signed Katty Kay, the popular author and BBC correspondent and author, and will serve as her representative for many of her ventures.The announcement comes just days after Kay rejoined the BBC after leaving last May to join Ozy Media, an ill-fated venture alleged in November to have committed securities fraud. Kay left BBC in a bid to broaden her horizons in digital and audio media, but left Ozy soon after it came under scrutiny.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPeople who are interested in CNN Plus finally have a date when they can add it to their streaming repertoire. The WarnerMedia-owned cable-news outlet intends to launch the subscription broadband service on March 29.The detail — perhaps the last piece of information to be disclosed about the new media venue — comes ahead of a presentation CNN executives and anchors will make during the SXSW Festival this weekend.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAndrew Ross Sorkin, the New York Times journalist and CNBC morning host, will take on a new assignment for NBC News: gaining an edge in the TV-news industry’s expanding streaming wars.Sorkin will host and produce a limited-run original series for NBC News Now, the NBC News streaming service that its parent has promoted aggressively in recent weeks as rival CNN prepares to launch a new streaming venture called CNN Plus. Sorkin’s streaming debut is expected to examine “the people, trends, institutions and forces shaping our world,” according to an NBC News statement.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTV networks have long demanded more data from Nielsen to help keep track of viewers who are leaving traditional TV for streaming video and mobile viewing. Now they say they want less.Nielsen recently began releasing new sets of information that include more granular measurement of TV audiences, available alongside its traditional measures of total linear viewership by age and gender.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAt first bite, Cookie Monster seems like a harmless creature whose only flaw is acting on the needs of his stomach over the recommendations of his brain. In reality, this is a battle-hardened veteran who is set to play a bigger role in one of the media industry’s most intense brawls.The furry, azure creature, known for his time on “Sesame Street” and even in a commercial for Apple, will soon boost WarnerMedia’s efforts to win new fans of its kids programming, and to keep those who already have a connection from breaking it.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTop executives from some of the nation’s biggest media conglomerates haven’t in recent months been shy about blasting Nielsen, the industry’s de facto measurement of success or failure. At Walt Disney Co., however, they’re humming a song that bears some resemblance to the farewell tune from “Mickey Mouse Club”: “See you real soon.”Many media companies are casting about for new alliances with measurement upstarts and Nielsen rivals.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorA+E Networks has long been in the business of selling advertising time for its linear cable networks. But as it moves into a new era of haggling over audiences who watch TV in decidedly non-traditional fashion, it has started to push advertisers to find new ways to spend their money.“As our industry continues to evolve, we remain focused on premium, popular and relevant stories and storytellers and are expanding the ways our viewers can find our content,’ says Paul Buccieri,” president and chairman of A+E Networks Group, in a prepared statement, adding: “In an ever-changing landscape, we are providing our advertisers more —  more programming featuring the world’s most beloved talent, more best-in-class opportunities to reach their targets, and more custom solutions to exceed their goals and deeply engage their audiences.” A+E Networks is holding a virtual upfront presentation Wednesday for advertisers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe media industry’s measurement wars are expanding beyond counting traditional video audiences.iSpot, the measurement company that figures prominently in plans by NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia to offer alternatives to Nielsen in the sector’s looming “upfront” marketplace, will acquire Tunity, an analytics company that analyzes consumer viewing habits in public locations nationwide, including restaurants, offices, bars and hotels.“We want to account for all viewing across all screens,” says Sean Muller, iSpot’s founder and CEO, in an interview. The Tunity acquisition, he says, could be “powerful, both for our advertising clients who invest heavily in tentpole events and programs that are consumed outside the home and for our media partners.” The companies did not disclose financial terms.Keeping track of so-called “out of home” audiences has become more critical to TV networks, who understand that significant chunks of viewership for news, sports and other live programming is often found outside a consumer’s main habitat.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDon’t count Nielsen out of TV’s measurement wars just yet.Many TV companies are reaching out for new yardsticks to measure audiences rushing to watch TV in digital fashion. Disney is, too — but it’s not abandoning one of the industry’s oldest measurement purveyors as it does so.Disney said Tuesday that it had entered into an agreement with Publicis Media to test work on Nielsen’s new NielsenOne system, a measurement product that aims to count unduplicated video audiences across linear and digital screens and that Nielsen expects to introduce formally later this year.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAs NBCUniversal’s ad-sales division starts to take on tasks beyond its core business, it is expanding the range of communications executives it has as well.Neil Ripley, who previously was head of corporate communications for media-measurement firm Comscore, has been named a vice president of communications for NBCU’s ad-sales unit. He is charged with promoting the division’s efforts around advertising technology, data and cross-platform media measurement.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorIf it wasn’t for Chris Licht, you might not see Gayle King on TV every weekday morning.King wasn’t the typical host of a national morning-news show. She had worked for nearly two decades at a Hartford TV station before trying her hand at daytime TV.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNielsen hopes to regain industry backing of its TV ratings later this year, the company’s top executive told investors Monday.Speaking on a call with analysts, Nielsen CEO David Kenny said the company expects to complete all necessary work to regain accreditation by mid year. He believes the Media Rating Council, the industry organization that certifies measurement processes, will vote on accreditation of Nielsen’s national and local TV ratings work sometime after that.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPete Davidson won’t be live from New York on this particular Saturday night.The “Saturday Night Live” cast member has been cleared to work on the production of “The Home,” the Miramax horror movie being directed by James DeMonaco, according to two people familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for “SNL” could not be reached for immediate comment.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDiscovery said profit tumbled in the fourth quarter as the owner of Food Network, Discovery Channel and Eurosport contended with expenses related to the Discovery Plus streaming hub and a group of one-time items related to expenses. Even so, the company saw revenue increase as its streaming efforts helped boost advertising and distribution revenue.Discovery said fourth quarter net income fell to $38 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with $271 million, or 42 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.The company released details of its performance as it prepares to acquire WarnerMedia, a move that will elevate its standing in the media sector.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAT&T and State Farm are the latest big advertisers to experiment with new ways of figuring out just who is watching TV – and the commercials that support it.The two marketers are among those who are taking part in an alliance between Discovery and Omnicom Media Group. Under the pact, a handful of Omnicom clients, including the telecom and insurance giants, will test new ways of tabulating linear TV audiences using Comscore and VideoAmp, and examine recent viewership data.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorJohn Oliver has a few words for his soon-to-be new bosses at Discovery. And even those may be more than enough.The HBO host, who launches a new season of the comedy-meets-investigative-journalism series “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday, has for the past several years teased the owner of HBO and its parent WarnerMedia with great relish. “You’re a terrible company.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor“Reliable Sources” has been a Sunday fixture on CNN for three decades. Now it’s expanding to the working week.The media-analysis program will launch a weekday edition on CNN Plus, the subscription-video service set to launch over the next few weeks.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe Murdochs, the media-mogul family that controls Fox News Channel, are about to be the subject of a new documentary series that will be distributed by one of their main rivals.CNN expects to launch a six-part documentary series, “The Murdochs: Empire of Influence,” on CNN Plus, the streaming video site slated to launch in weeks to come. The series is produced with The New York Times and Left/Right and is based on the New York Times Magazine article “How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World,” by journalists Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg.