Nielsen Expands OOH Viewing Measure, Sports TV Benefit

• by Wayne Friedman , Today

Nielsen is expanding out-of-home measurement coverage this year to represent 100% of U.S. TV households -- up from 65% -- which will boost overall viewing metrics, especially for live sports TV programming.

Out of home viewing -- which comes from airports, hotels, bars and restaurants -- is measured through Portable People Meter wearable technology, and enables buy- and sell-side clients to track viewer consumption regardless of the platform, screen or location.

Currently there are 31,000 households represented in the sample. Another 2,000 are being added.

Out-of-home viewing -- which can take place in bars, restaurants, hotels and other non-home locations -- is particularly important when it comes to live sports viewing.

In 2023, Nielsen says, U.S. sports fans spent more than 1.7 trillion minutes watching games from the five most-watched sports leagues.

About a decade ago, Nielsen started capturing out-of-home viewing. In 2020, it began including those OOH viewers in its national TV ratings.

Streaming TV has now grown to a 36% share of total television usage as of December 2023, with live sports and other live viewing on both linear and streaming showing growth.

Nielsen plans to provide impact data in Q4 2024, in time for Super Bowl LIX.