Nielsen ends radio ratings tampering probe, doesn’t sanction Univision

Less than a month after it was discovered that a Univision Radio executive had manipulated portable people meter (PPM) sampling in Los Angeles, Nielsen announced it concluded its investigation into inaccurate ratings in the L.A. market.

The measuring company won’t be sanctioning Univision Communications for alleged unethical conduct by a former station executive and it will not reissue the ratings for last year or the first quarter of 2014.

According to the LA Times, Nielsen’s analysis showed that significant differences in the estimates from April 2013 to March 2014 were mainly isolated to only one Univision station – KSCA.

Univision fired the yet unidentified programming executive from Univision Radio’s KSCA 101.9 FM last month, after Nielsen discovered he had access to several PPMs, compromising the integrity of the measuring system.

In a memo sent to the LA radio stations, Nielsen stated that given “that there were minimal differences in the estimates for the overwhelming majority of other stations in the market….We have concluded that a reissue of prior currency data would be of limited commercial benefit to customers and would result in further disruption to the marketplace.”