Nielsen
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'Stranger Things' helped Netflix dominate the streaming charts in 2022
'Stranger Things' was the most-streamed TV show of last year, Nielsen says — though Netflix wasn't alone on the chart.
Streaming viewership surpasses cable TV for the first time in the US
Viewership of streaming TV overtook cable for the first time in July — it's no longer the underdog.
Roku buys Nielsen tech to better target ads on traditional TV
Roku has purchased Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising unit, which will change the way ads are served on its platform.
Nielsen says people mostly streamed old network shows, not new releases
Many more viewers watched older network shows like The Office, Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds, according to Nielsen’s first-ever yearly streaming show rankings and the NY Times.
Nielsen will adapt its TV ratings to recognize views on other devices
Nielsen is revamping its ratings system to acknowledge a world where people watch much more than TV, although it won't be ready until 2024.
Nielsen wants to track podcast data by... calling people
Are true crime podcasts as popular with Millenials as they are with Baby Boomers? Does the under-35 crowd listen to wellness podcasts? Nielsen, the company behind the TV ratings system, will begin to survey Americans about their podcast consumption habits in order to sell the data to podcast creators and ad networks.
Cord cutting has grown by 50 percent in the last eight years
A new Nielsen study has found that the number of cord cutters in the US has grown by 48 percent over the past eight years. Apparently, 16 million homes no longer have traditional cable or satellite TV subscriptions, which means 14 percent of all households with TVs in the US exclusively watch over-the-air programming. That's still a relatively small percentage overall, but it shows a trend that could grow even more over time. Those 16 million homes are divided into two groups: one consists of older folks who mainly rely on their antenna, while the other is composed of tech-savvy younger people with subscriptions to streaming services.
Nielsen steps up its tracking of digital gaming and esports
Nielsen has acquired gaming industry intelligence firm SuperData Research to give its ability to track games and esports a boost. According to its announcement, the acquisition will allow it to keep a closer eye on digital gaming use, sales and audiences. It will also give the company a way to track spending on esports events, tickets, marketing and sponsorships. In other words, SuperData will beef up Nielsen's capability to measure various metrics other than sales alone for an industry where those metrics matter. VentureBeat notes, though, that it doesn't always have the most accurate figures.
Nielsen to include YouTube TV viewing figures in its local ratings
As users cut cords and go with live TV streaming services like Hulu and Sling TV, it gets harder for broadcasters to gauge those all-important ratings -- especially on a local level. Now, Nielsen has announced that it will start measuring local TV audiences for YouTube TV, one of the newest cord-cutting TV services. That will give advertisers "a full account of all viewing activity, irrespective of distribution channel," said Nielsen's Jeff Wender.
34 major tech companies are uniting to fight cyberattacks
Cyberattacks are a global issue that can cause havoc regardless of who's involved, and key members of the tech industry are uniting in a bid to fight these attacks. A group of 34 companies has signed the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, an agreement promising to defend customers around the world from hacks regardless of where they take place or who the perpetrator might be. They're promising to boost defenses for customers (including users' capacity to defend themselves), establish more partnerships to share threats and vulnerabilities, and -- importantly -- refuse to assist governments in launching cyberattacks.
Nielsen ratings give credit for Facebook, YouTube and Hulu views
Media ratings giant Nielsen announced today that publishers will now get credit for digital video content aired on Facebook, Hulu and YouTube. "Through capturing this audience, Nielsen is providing publishers, agencies and advertisers with a better picture of today's media consumption, with comparable metrics," said Nielsen's president of product leadership, Megan Clarken, in a statement.
Nielsen counts live Hulu and YouTube TV streams for its ratings
Nielsen might be the lord of all TV ratings, but they've been scrambling to catch up in this new media landscape we're in. Over the years, the service has been shifting and adjusting its traditional model to take into account the new and myriad ways we are all consuming TV. And now, they have a new announcement: Nielsen is adding Hulu's live TV service and YouTube TV to its traditional TV ratings.
Almost every adult still watches TV the old-fashioned way
Surprise: an overwhelming majority of adults still watch TV on a TV despite cord-cutting and the prevalence of mobile broadband. 92 percent of those aged 18 and older according to a recent report from Nielsen, to be exact. "Sure, viewers have more options today, but when looking at platforms in a comparative fashion, it's clear that consumers choose the television as the primary vehicle for [programming]," Tom Ziangas of AMC Research said in a blog post. The study found that of the gross minutes counted last year, 509,196,299,668 minutes (82.1 percent) were spent watching shows and movies via a flatscreen itself, and an additional 63,637,309,003 minutes (10.3 percent) came from TV-connected devices like game consoles.
AT&T's deal with Nielsen promises more accurate TV ratings
For years, TV ratings data has revolved around a small number of households using specialized gear to track their viewing habits. That's not completely representative of what the broader public is watching, is it? However, the accuracy is about to jump by leaps and bounds. Mere months after a deal with Dish, Nielsen has forged a multi-year agreement with AT&T to use set-top box data (thankfully, anonymized) to help determine ratings. Info from DirecTV and U-Verse subscribers will supply Nielsen with large-scale viewing patterns on top of its existing samples, providing a clearer picture of the American TV landscape.
Streaming topped all forms of US music consumption in 2016
Remember in early 2013 when Apple hit 25 billion iTune song downloads? And Tim Cook said it took Sony 30 years to sell 220,000 Walkmans? Well, fast-forward just under four years, and Nielsen has revealed that Americans streamed 431 billion songs in 2016 alone, surpassing total digital sales of songs and albums for the first time in history. "The landscape is evolving even more quickly than we have seen with other format shifts," said Nielsen SVP David Bakula.
Nielsen starts breaking down TV streams by device next month
Nielsen already tracks what you're watching via gizmos like Apple TV, Roku and PlayStation, but has always lumped those viewing statistics together. That changes come April 25th when the ratings-minded folks start breaking over-the-top viewership data (Netflix or Hulu, for example) down by device, according to Variety. The "brand-level" connected device data will pull from Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and Xbox in addition to the ones mentioned above. This should give content owners a better idea of what platforms their programming is being watched on most.
Online love with OKCupid and Tinder peaks at 9 PM
OKCupid might send out email blasts telling you to log in during a rainstorm because that's when the site's apparently busiest in any given location, but Nielsen wants you to know when the best time is to log in, period. For the dating website, the uptick starts at 6 PM, peaks at 9 PM and falls off sharply starting at 10 PM according to The Huffington Post. Those rainy-night emails? In my case, they arrive just after 7 PM. Surprisingly, the more fling-favorable Tinder is busiest at the same times as OKCupid in terms of unique audience, with over 50 percent of users beginning their swipe-fests during primetime.
Nielsen adds Facebook to its social television ratings
Since 2013, Nielsen leverages Twitter chatter to gauge how popular a television show is on the web. Starting in a few months, those social ratings will include Facebook. Neilsen's new Social Content Ratings will replace its Twitter TV Ratings to track live activity on sporting events, awards shows and original series.
Streaming music was twice as big in 2015
Nielsen just removed any doubt that streaming music is here to stay. The research group's end-of-year music report reveals that the number of on-demand US streams nearly doubled year-over-year in 2015, to 317.2 billion streams. Downloads unsurprisingly took a hit, with individual song sales diving 12.5 percent and whole albums dropping 2.9 percent. However, the sheer volume of streams appears to at least partly make up for the shortfall -- Billboard notes that the revenue is equivalent to 211.5 million purchased albums. While artists aren't necessarily getting all that extra money, it's a positive sign.
Streams and vinyl sales double while music downloads dwindle
Need even more proof that vinyl is more than just a passing fad for the Pabst Blue Ribbon crowd? Here goes: While digital album and song sales continued their downward spiral, record sales have more than doubled since last year. All this is according to Nielsen Soundscan, which reports that the 9.2 million wax tally is the highest since it started tracking sales in 1991. For context, however, digital sales still bested physical by a massive margin (CDs weren't broken out, according to The Wall Street Journal), with 106.5 million albums downloaded in 2014. Meanwhile, individual song sales dipped 12 percent compared to 2013.
