Key Points
- Nielsen is piloting a new co-viewing methodology to more accurately capture total viewership for programming, particularly live events.
- The pilot launches with Super Bowl LX on February 8 and uses Nielsen’s wearable devices to passively measure audiences without requiring log-ins.
- Pilot data will be shared with clients after final ratings delivery but won’t be considered currency until the 2026-2027 season.
Nielsen says it will pilot a new methodology for measuring television viewership to account for co-viewing during premium events like live sports, with the Super Bowl on NBC serving as the testing ground.
The pilot program will launch this Sunday, during NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl LX from Northern California, and continue throughout the year during similar high-profile sports and entertainment events, the measurement firm confirmed in a press release.
Initial results from the pilot program will be released a few weeks after the delivery of Nielsen final Big Data + Panel ratings.
“Nielsen’s mission is to constantly push measurement forward and deliver the most accurate data ever. This co-viewing pilot builds on that mission, alongside our recent enhancements with Big Data + Panel, out of home expansion, live-streaming measurement and our wearable devices,” Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our clients produce live TV events that get the world watching. It’s our job to make sure we are accurately counting the audiences they meticulously build.”
Nielsen said the new pilot methodology better incorporates Nielsen’s proprietary wearable measurement devices to evaluate co-viewing, like when fans are watching the Super Bowl together at a party or at a local sports bar.
The wearables capture audio from TV events, shows and movies, allowing for more passive measurement that does not require a formal log-in process, Nielsen affirmed.
The co-viewing estimates from the pilot program will not be immediately included in Big Data + Panel ratings from Nielsen and will not be considered “currency” that advertisers transact on, the company said. But data from the pilot will still be available to clients after the delivery of regular Big Data + Panels-based reports, and clients will be able to share those findings publicly if they’d like.
The goal of the pilot program is to have co-viewing represented in reports during the 2026-27 television season, which kicks off later this year.
