If there was one topic of conversation that stood out in The E.W. Scripps Co.‘s first quarter 2026 earnings review for analysts and investors on Friday morning, it had nothing to do with EBITDA or a net loss. Rather, it had everything to do with Scripps’ frustration with Nielsen regarding an audience measurement change the company believes favors cable networks, and putting Scripps Networks offerings at a disadvantage.
Expressing how live sports on the ION Network will likely bring riches to Scripps during the current quarter, company President/CEO Adam Symson shared that Scripps is “navigating some external challenges with national advertising revenue.” Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs pointed to market softness due to a volatile economy, which has directly led to a decrease in Networks-focused direct response ad spending, Symson noted.
Yet Scripps has also been affected by a recent Nielsen audience measurement change that, in Symson’s view, “has artificially shifted household viewership weighting in favor of cable networks.”
Because all Scripps networks are distributed over the air, this change has negatively impacted audience delivery, the Scripps CEO added, lamenting, “Nielsen’s new methodology is inexplicably resulting in frustratingly inaccurate reports of ratings declines for over-the-air viewing and streaming.”
This, Symson added, “disproportionately impacts the measurement of our multicast networks viewers who are most vulnerable to affordability issues, including those in rural communities, people of color, and older Americans.”
Symson then took a defiant tone in expressing the value and ROI the Scripps Networks assets bring to marketers. “The fact is that we have seen no letup in the demand for our advertising products in the general market, and sales execution is on point,” he said. “Nielsen’s overnight change suddenly impacted our supply of impressions, impacting our revenue.”
According to Symson, Scripps began seeing a revenue impact from Nielsen’s methodology change in March. Since then, the company “has been advocating aggressively for Nielsen to make a public disclosure outlining the magnitude of the discrepancy in their data.”
During the Q&A session with analysts, Combs offered additional comments in response to a question from Stonex‘s Dan Kurnos regarding what advertising are saying as Scripps looks ahead into the back half of 2026. “We do believe that that methodology is flawed,” Combs said, reiterating Symson’s statements. “Beyond that, the current macroeconomic environment is having an impact on performance-driven advertisers in the direct response space. Inflationary pressure and higher fuel costs continue to weigh heavily on the American consumer, and geopolitical instability has created some hesitation in the marketplace and some ripple effects.”
Later in the call, Barclays analyst Shanna Qiu wanted more insight as to Scripps Networks’ declines, and how much of it was tied to macroeconomic issues and linked to the Nielsen methodology change. While Combs said Scripps isn’t breaking it down that granularly, Symson believes it is important to recognize that on the network side, “we sell impressions, the impressions are determined by your currency. Mid-February, overnight, Nielsen’s methodology change didn’t impact sales execution. It didn’t impact the demand we have in the marketplace. It impacted how many impressions we had to sell.
“We’re working right now with Nielsen to right that ship … we’re also not just sort of letting it go,” Symson said. “I mean, we’re doing what we can to make changes both on the marketing side as well as on the programming side to bolster, to bolster the programming strategy so that we, you know, can see an increase in impressions because we have the customer demand. We have the advertiser. We just need to see the impressions come back.”
Combs had the final say on the Nielsen matter, replying to a question from Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall by stating, “While Nielsen’s measurement change may have negatively impacted impressions for OTA and streaming, the fact is the ad marketplace is responding very well to the message that we have out there in the marketplace for the upfront. Our focus is continuing to be on our distribution platform, which grows OTA and streaming and the differentiated programming we have … specifically women’s sports. That’s our messaging. That OTA opportunity continues to be, I think, really well received by advertisers in the marketplace who recognize what’s going on in the cable industry and are looking to shift dollars from general market cable into more premium products.
RBR+TVBR has reached out to Nielsen for comment.
