November 13, 2025
Nielsen faces new antitrust litigation that, if successful, would invalidate its contracts with networks, agencies and advertisers industrywide.
In the antitrust action, filed Monday, Nielsen rival TVision seeks damages but also asks the U.S. District Court for Delaware to enjoin a wide range of industrywide Nielsen contract practices as violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Those practices, according to the filing, include Nielsen’s insistence on multi-year deals; staggering contracts with big networks so they won’t come up for renewal simultaneously; preventing customers from using Nielsen data they’ve already paid for if they don’t renew deals; and withholding data from networks to agencies and advertisers if deals aren’t renewed.
According to the filing, those contract terms illegally restrain trade with TVision both directly and indirectly through their effect on other Nielsen rivals such as VideoAmp, which uses TVision’s panel data in its products.
Simultaneously, TVision withdrew a motion to dismiss the patent lawsuit that was originally filed against it by Nielsen, opting instead to pursue the antitrust allegations as part of the litigation.
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Yan Liu, TVision’s CEO, said in an interview that the company has expanded its antitrust scope and strategy by recently adding a new law firm, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, which has a track record in major antitrust litigation, to its legal team. The firm has won antitrust settlements against the National Association of Realtors and UFC, among others, in recent years.
“We believe they really have the expertise, not only about the patent side but also about the entire Nielsen go-to-market and business model, and how the business model really damaged our industry, preventing the industry from innovating,” Liu said.
TVision’s counterclaim alleges that Nielsen’s dominance, via its estimated 90% share of TV currency transactions, lets it charge as much as four times more and generate five times higher profit margins in the U.S. compared to global markets with greater competition.
Read Antitrust Litigation seeks to invalidate Nielsen contracts industrywide .