Nielsen and Paramount, which owns CBS, failed to renew their contract ahead of tonight's vice presidential debate. The big picture: Nielsen is still considered the gold standard for measuring ratings,

Citing the cost, Paramount Global and Nielsen have failed to reach a renewal agreement. For now, Paramount will be using the audience data of Nielsen rival VideoAmp.

Should the companies not come to terms in time, advertisers would be required to convert guarantees for existing deals made with Nielsen data for Paramount inventory, including CBS, Nickelodeon and Paramount+,

A Nielsen spokesperson tells TheWrap that it hopes to reach a new deal and continue to partner with Paramount, but emphasized that all of its other customers and the industry at large would continue to have full access to its data, even if a new deal is not reached by the deadline. Nielsen has a deal in place with every other legacy media company.

Paramount Global says it will be forced to drop Nielsen ratings on October 1 if the two sides cannot come to a deal for measurement services

Paramount will use measurement data from VideoAmp from October 1 if their contract with Nielsen is not renewed. This article, Paramount may drop Nielsen ratings in October, report says, was first published at The Desk.