TV ratings delayed again by ransomware attack on Nielsen

The overnight television ratings are unavailable again, with Nielsen confirming the disruption is a result of a ransomware attack.

Both Nielsen and OzTAM stressed that households are still collecting their viewing data, and that referencing sites have not been impacted. 

The TV ratings have gone dark (Photo by Wang John on Unsplash)

Yesterday, the delay was attributed to “an unexpected disruption” relating to Nielsen’s “Australian TV Audience Measurement (TAM) data centre environment”.

Nielsen said it was working on the issue.

“Nielsen’s global and local infrastructure teams took the steps to contain the incident, launched a robust investigation and are currently working to resolve the issue as fast as possible. We will be sure to keep the industry informed as new information on the matter becomes available,” a spokesperson said.

It’s understood the data will be made available once the issue is resolved.

Last night, Seven aired the final of Big Brother in prime time, while Ten had episode four of Bachelor in Paradise, running for two hours. Nine’s prime-time offering was RBT.

Tomorrow night would have been the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which Seven was set to broadcast.

Vivienne Kelly

Vivienne Kelly is the editor of Mumbrella. Throughout her career she has worked as a journalist and editor across a number of consumer and B2B finance and real estate titles. She has also spent time in public relations across the health, finance and energy sectors.

topics NielsenOzTamOzTam ratingstelevisionTVTV ratings

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Comments: 1 Add Comment

media planner 23 Jul 20

I guess the 5,500 people who are told to push a button on a special remote before they watch a show (participation is rewarded) can have a sigh of relief that their button pushing still translates to millions of views across Australia, banking the TV network coffers by gullible marketers.

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