The Media Rating Council (MRC) has revoked accreditation for Nielsen Audio’s Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings service in four markets and denied accreditation in another 18, according to a report published on Monday.
The report, from Inside Radio, said the accreditation-related actions were disclosed in the MRC’s third-quarter (Q3) accreditation update, which covers the three-month period that ends September 30 and affects Nielsen’s electronic measurement of radio listings in several major U.S. markets.
Accreditation was revoked in Baltimore, Jacksonville, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Inside Radio said. Another 18 markets saw their accreditation denied: Austin, Boston, Dallas, Hartford, Houston, Las Vegas, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Norfolk, Orlando, Providence, Raleigh, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and West Palm Beach.
The quarterly report did not provide specific explanations for the decisions.
MRC accreditation is a voluntary process through which independent auditors evaluate audience measurement services against established industry standards, including requirements related to sampling, methodology and data processing.
The loss or denial of accreditation does not prevent Nielsen from continuing to measure radio audiences or selling its ratings data to broadcasters, advertising agencies and other customers. It does, however, mean the affected services cannot carry the MRC’s accreditation designation.
For Nielsen, the denial is a major setback, given that its PPM measurement system is widely used by radio broadcasters and advertisers to evaluate listening audiences and inform advertising transactions, particularly on AM and FM radio.
In a statement to Inside Radio, Nielsen acknowledged the MRC’s concerns and said it was taking steps to improve its audio measurement operations.
“Nielsen has been working closely with the MRC Audio Committee to address specific areas of concern within certain PPM markets,” the company said.
“Our teams launched a comprehensive transformation plan earlier this year, which has already shown initial improvements,” Nielsen continued. “We value the thoroughness of the MRC process and acknowledge how crucial accreditation is to our clients.”
Nielsen said it would continue providing updates to the MRC and its customers as the work progresses.
The latest accreditation actions follow a separate agreement between Nielsen and the MRC involving the company’s audio diary measurement service.
In July, the organizations agreed to place that service on a six-month accreditation hiatus running from June 23 through December 23.
The temporary suspension was intended to provide Nielsen additional time to make changes to its diary measurement operations, including the continued development of mSurvey, a digital diary survey introduced during the spring of 2026.
The MRC’s latest report did not indicate when the affected PPM markets might regain or receive accreditation.
