For decades there’s been little debate among advertisers and market observers as to what station dominates the South Florida ratings for local news and FOX Sports’ NFL coverage. Now, that station’s owner is ensuring data provided by Nielsen only reinforces this fiercely independent broadcast property’s strength from Key West to Parkland — in addition to its Boston sibling on the same channel position.

Nielsen will be the local TV measurement choice for Sunbeam Television, owner of WHDH-7 in New England’s largest market and the company’s WSVN-7 in Miami.

WSVN has been a FOX affiliate since the first of two major “Great Affiliation Swaps” in South Florida, when it dropped NBC at the start of 1988. However, under the late Ed Ansin, it embraced a heavy local news focus with Joel Cheatwood directing one of the first tabloid-style newscasts seen. At the time, local media mocked Ansin and WSVN. Some 35 years later, WSVN remains a dominant source of news while The Miami Herald is a shell of its former self and competitors including WFOR, WTVJ and WPLG “Local 10” battle in a marketplace that continues to become more Spanish-dominant and bilingual than ever before.

At the end of 2016, history repeated for Ansin and Paul Magnes, co-President of Sunbeam Television Corporation and GM of WSVN. In Boston, NBC affiliation at WHDH-TV would be ending. The station would go with a heavy news approach, like in Miami, but without any network ties. The result? NBC Boston has struggled to gain a news audience, while WHDH has held its own.

For WHDH and WSVN, an expanded multi-year agreement with Nielsen includes its Local Over the Top (OTT) measurement, which captures incremental impressions to Local TV and reports them with comparable metrics for the benefit of buyers, sellers, and content producers.

“Nielsen is pleased to continue working with Sunbeam Television Corporation as their Local TV measurement provider,” said Paul LeFort, Managing Director of Nielsen’s Local TV business. “At Nielsen we are committed to innovation in the Local TV space to bring the best insights to broadcasters like Sunbeam. As we look ahead to 2025, we’re excited to deliver enhanced insights backed by our Big Data + Panel methodology that will increase stability, eliminate zero-cell ratings and increase impressions to Local TV.”