Second Circuit Upholds Finding of Anticompetitive Conduct Brought by Analysis Group Client Cumulus Media Against Nielsen

August 26, 2026

Analysis Group was retained on behalf of the radio broadcast company Cumulus Media, the plaintiff in an antitrust lawsuit against The Nielsen Company, a market research firm. Cumulus Media, which operates both a national audio network and local radio stations, alleged that Nielsen engaged in an illegal tying scheme when it adopted a policy that conditioned subscribers’ access to its national radio ratings data on the purchase of ratings data for local markets in which they operate. Cumulus Media stated that this arrangement would force it to purchase ratings data for markets for which it had no need of data in order to gain access to the national data it needed to sell ads for its national network. It sought an injunction against Nielsen preventing it from enforcing the arrangement.

An Analysis Group team led by Managing Principal Emily Cotton, Principal Mark Lewis, and Vice President Federico Mantovanelli supported Harold Furchtgott-Roth, who filed an expert report and testified at deposition. A media and telecommunications industry expert, Dr. Furchtgott-Roth opined that Nielsen exercised market power both in the national radio ratings market and in each of the local radio ratings markets for which it gathered data. He further opined that Nielsen’s arrangement was an illegal tie because it leveraged its market power in national market to entrench its market power in the market for local ratings data.

A judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Cumulus Media’s motion for a preliminary injunction, barring Nielsen’s arrangement from taking effect. Citing Dr. Furchtgott-Roth’s submissions throughout the opinion, the district court held that Cumulus Media was likely to succeed on its claims of antitrust injury because Nielsen’s policy “flatly prohibits the sale of the complete nationwide product unless purchased with all local ratings data.” The injunction was subsequently upheld by a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.