Court Grants Stay of Injunction in Nielsen-Cumulus Case

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, February 3, 2026 | 10:28pm CT

Cumulus Media and Nielsen

A federal appeals court has granted Nielsen's request to pause enforcement of a preliminary injunction issued in its antitrust dispute with Cumulus Media, temporarily removing court-ordered restrictions on Nielsen's national radio ratings policies.

In an order dated February 3, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted Nielsen a stay pending appeal of a lower court ruling that had barred the company from enforcing policies tying access to national radio ratings to the purchase of local market data. The stay means the injunction is not currently in effect while the appeal moves forward.

The underlying case stems from a December ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in New York, who found that Cumulus had shown a likelihood of success on its claim that Nielsen's so-called "Network Policy" constituted unlawful tying under Section 2 of the Sherman Act. That ruling had temporarily prohibited Nielsen from enforcing the policy and limited the rates it could charge for standalone nationwide radio ratings.

Cumulus argued that Nielsen's policies effectively forced broadcast groups that operate both local stations and national networks to purchase local Nielsen data in order to obtain usable national ratings - a key currency for selling national advertising through Cumulus' Westwood One network. The district court also cited evidence that Nielsen's related "Subscriber First Policy" had discouraged broadcasters from switching to competing local ratings providers, including Eastlan.

Following the injunction, Nielsen sought emergency relief from the appeals court, warning that the order could cause significant disruption to its audio business and undermine its ability to support the nationwide ratings product. In filings, the company argued that the district court improperly interfered in pricing decisions and imposed standards that were difficult to apply in practice.

According to Nielsen, the Second Circuit's decision to grant a stay restores the status quo for now, meaning there is currently no injunction in place while the appeal is considered. The broader antitrust case itself remains pending.

The lawsuit, Cumulus Media New Holdings, Inc. v. The Nielsen Company (US) LLC, has wide implications for the radio advertising marketplace, where Nielsen's national ratings remain the dominant benchmark for buying and selling network radio advertising.