Nielsen adds wearable device data to sharpen TV viewership measurement

Ratings company Nielsen has announced a set of updates to its data-collection methodology ahead of the upcoming fall television season. The most notable change involves co-viewing data: starting August 31st, Nielsen will incorporate information gathered from smart-watch-like wearable devices worn by its research panelists at home.

These devices, known as Portable People Meter (PPM) Wearables, have been deployed nationally by Nielsen since 2016 to strengthen its audio, local TV, and national audience measurements. Worn on the wrist, they listen for audio cues from TV scenes, series, and films. Nielsen says panelists using the devices won't need to go through its usual login process, and the company believes the technology will give it a clearer picture of how many people are actually watching a given program.

The update builds on Nielsen's earlier decision this year to adopt the Advertising Research Foundation's Device and Account Sharing (DASH) methodology, now refreshed with more recent survey data. Nielsen will also draw on two additional surveys aimed at better estimating the number of Spanish-speaking households among its panel participants. Separately, the company is updating the machine-learning tool it uses to process data-provider information and assess the demographic makeup of individual households, which it says will make the data more representative and prevent it from skewing artificially toward older residents.

Taken together, the changes suggest Nielsen is working to defend its position as the industry standard for ratings measurement at a time when viewing habits have grown increasingly fragmented due to streaming's rise. While panel participants have long been asked to keep Nielsen's proprietary devices in their homes, being asked to wear a listening device may feel more intrusive to some. Still, if the updates do improve the reliability of Nielsen's data, other ratings firms could follow suit.