A tale of two radio ratings providers at the moment.
In the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Cumulus Media, owner of nearly 400 radio stations across 84 markets and deliver sports, news and talk to another 9,500 affiliated ones, have filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against The Nielsen Company, accusing Nielson of illegally using its national and local radio audience data monopoly to reduce competition, diminish rivals and inflate prices.
National networks must apparently purchase Nielsen national radio ratings data to sell advertising inventory with many national advertisers and advertising agencies are unwilling to get involved in national networks that don’t have Nielsen’s national radio ratings data.
Closer to home GfK Media Measurement who provide our own metro and provincial radio ratings have been awarded the new Radio Audience Measurement System (RAMS) in South Africa following a detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) process.
Gary Whitaker, the CEO of The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRC) said:
“The selection process was thorough and competitive, and GfK’s proposal stood out for its commitment to methodological rigour, and proven global expertise. This solution will provide the industry with data that is both reliable and future-ready, supporting strategic decision-making across the marketing, media and advertising landscape.”
I am an fan of GfK and their methodology, of which they are transparent, and, as Whitaker said above, rigorous. If ever you’ve wanted to know in greater detail how each survey is measured in Australia, you can read this story from last year:
Cumulus however state that they feel that they have to overpay for Nielsen’s products that they neither need or want or else they are “risking significant losses in advertising revenue and market share, irreparably damaging its relationships and its goodwill with advertisers, advertising agencies, affiliates, and content and service partners.”
Nielsen’s response to the lawsuit was a statement which said that it is “entirely without merit”.
You can read more about the July 2025 phone call between Cumulus and Nielsen which appears to have sparked the lawsuit via Radio Ink here.
For South Africa, they will have their new radio audience measurement system in Q1 2026.
GfK Media Measurement Director for Australia and New Zealand, Deb Hishon, said on LinkedIn:
“Earlier this year, I had the privilege of playing a key role in GfK Media Measurement’s pitch to the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRC) for the country’s new radio audience measurement contract (RAMS).
Since then, we’ve hit the ground running. It’s been incredibly rewarding to see this come to life, huge thanks to the dedication and collaboration of our talented GfK MM and NIQ teams across South Africa, Australia and globally.
The BRC’s decision was strongly influenced by the success of Radio360, our hybrid audience measurement system that’s already delivering deduplicated, cross-platform audio insights in Australia. It’s a powerful example of how innovation in one market can inspire transformation in another.
A huge thank you to the BRC for their trust, and to everyone at GfK who has helped bring this vision to reality. I can’t wait to see the impact this will have on the South African media landscape.”
The next GfK survey released is the third this year for the Gold Coast market, on Thursday November 13. GfK Radio 360 Metro Survey 7 is released on Tuesday November 25.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email: [email protected]