Pricing dispute: Paramount Global's contract with Nielsen has lapsed amid disagreements over pricing and industry shifts, Variety reports. Paramount argues that Nielsen's price hikes don't reflect current market realities of the industry, signaling a decreasing dependency on the legacy company for measurement and setting ad rates.

Macro trends: The rise of streaming OTT and on-demand services has fragmented traditional TV audiences, complicating accurate measurement. Paramount plans to use VideoAmp for tracking viewership across its media assets while continuing talks with Nielsen. Paramount is under pressure to cut costs, aiming to trim $500 million from its operations. Skydance Media, set to acquire Paramount, intends to slash another $1.5 billion in expenses.

• Some of Paramount's cable networks generate less ad revenue than the cost of Nielsen's services.

• Paramount spends hundreds of millions annually on Nielsen measurement.

• CBS had a similar fallout with Nielsen in 2019 but resumed service after 11 days.

Zoom in: The shift to streaming has made audience measurement more complex, prompting Paramount to warn advertisers about potential gaps in Nielsen data. Nielsen maintains that its services are still valuable and has added new data types to its measurements. Paramount and Nielsen are expected to continue negotiations, with both sides expressing a willingness to reach a new agreement, and the industry will continue to have access to ratings for Paramount properties during the negotiation period.