In what may be a bigger surprise than some might have expected, the contract stalemate between ratings agency Nielsen and entertainment giant Paramount Global (PARA) is now in its second month without resolve.
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The last time there was a contract dispute between Paramount and Nielsen was back in 2019, a stalemate that lasted just 11 days. The current dispute is in its fifth week and talks remain ongoing. Paramount has said that Nielsen’s demands are unacceptable. Those demands include “…substantial price increases that are inconsistent with the realities of a changing industry.”
Paramount has been working toward “…a multicurrency future,” including working with other ratings platforms. This has proven to be a problem for CBS as the network recently started up new programming for the 2024-2025 season. However, it also comes at a time when Nielsen is perhaps the biggest name among several alternatives as opposed to merely the only name.
A Lot of Talk
Separately, remember when Paramount might merge with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and put a whole lot of content under one umbrella? That, as it turned out, was a process that went nowhere and ultimately took its sweet time getting there.
The report cited a regulatory finding connected to Paramount’s current Skydance Media merger, where it was revealed that Paramount and Warner talked “for months” before ultimately giving up. In fact, Warner Bros. would have to pay in cash, and at a fairly high valuation. Sufficiently high that it would have been challenging to actually conduct a merger.
Is Paramount Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on PARA stock based on three Buys, six Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.67% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $12.67 implies 11.38% upside potential.
