Nielsen Halts Radio Ratings for Lakeland-Winter Haven

RADIO ONLINE | Friday, March 28, 2025

Nielsen Audio

Nielsen Audio has announced it will discontinue its ratings service for the Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL market effective with the Spring, 2025 survey period. This decision coincides with the commencement of the Spring ratings book and follows the reduction in the number of subscribers in the area.

During the last ratings cycle in Fall, 2024, WHNR-AM (Boss Hog Radio), owned by Walco Enterprises, was the sole remaining subscriber in the market, recording a share of 0.2. This followed the departure of Hall Communications as a Nielsen subscriber. The Lakeland-Winter Haven area was most recently positioned as the 78th largest market.

As a result of the discontinuation, Nielsen has revised its market rankings for Spring 2025, causing all markets previously ranked below Lakeland-Winter Haven to move up by one position.

Nielsen issued a statement to its subscribers, stating: "Effective with the start of the Spring 2025 survey, the Lakeland-Winter Haven Radio Metro was canceled. As such, all audience estimates for the Lakeland-Winter Haven Metro must not be utilized beyond August 1, 2025."

The company also warned that any metro data that have been canceled might contain outdated information and advised subscribers that they may use the data for up to six months after the final data release, depending on the prior frequency of measurement for that metro.