CBS to use Nielsen out-of-home measurement

Thursday, September 21st, 2017
Nielsen logo

CBS Corporation To Begin Use Of Nielsen Out-of-Home Measurement

  • CBS to Uncover Additional Audiences via Nielsen’s Syndicated Service
  • During Most Recent NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, Out-of-Home Viewing for the Final Four Games on CBS Delivered Additional Average Lift of +18.9%, or 1.1 Million Additional Viewers Per Game

NEW YORK — Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) announced today that CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) has subscribed to Nielsen’s National Out-of-Home Reporting Service. The agreement is effective immediately and provides CBS with out-of-home viewing data, including ratings for all programming and commercial content that aired on the Network for live plus seven days of time-shifted viewing.

“Being able to measure CBS’ content and uncover additional viewers outside the confines of their homes will help us showcase the breadth and depth of our valuable programming to clients in a more robust way,” said David F. Poltrack, Chief Research Officer of CBS Corporation and President of CBS VISION. “Nielsen’s Out-of-Home service has been discussed primarily with regards to sports, but we are pleased this agreement covers all of the Network’s programming and that Nielsen is moving in the right direction as it pertains to measuring the total audience.”

Nielsen is the only measurement company that allows subscribers, via an opt-in service, a look at their combined in-home and out-of-home ratings. The data from Nielsen’s National TV Ratings panel and the viewing away from the home captured by the Portable People Meter (PPM) offers participating clients a more complete and comprehensive look at their audiences by providing weekly reports that include daily audience estimates for program and commercial content.

This National Out-of-Home Reporting service provides networks the ability to count an audience that was previously unmeasured and is a key part of Nielsen’s Total Audience framework. It offers clients consistent and comparable metrics of linear content and ads across the entire media ecosystem. For instance, during the most recent NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, out-of-home viewing for the Final Four games on CBS delivered an additional average lift of 18.9%, raising the average rating to 5.6, or 1.1 million additional viewers per game.

“CBS has been an early adopter of our Nielsen Total Audience measurement offerings, such as out-of-home, which has allowed them to demonstrate their incremental audience lift and help to showcase the benefits to marketers,” said Peter Bradbury, Managing Director, Nielsen National Client Solutions. “As viewing continues to shift across platforms, devices and delivery systems, Nielsen’s commitment to capturing and reporting all consumers’ viewing and out-of-home measurement is a key part of this evolution. We are delighted that CBS will be joining the expanding roster of Nielsen’s television clients who see the value of our National Out-of-Home Reporting service.”

The service uses Nielsen’s PPM technology from nearly 77,000 installed panelists. The PPM’s portability and low-maintenance by the panelist enables Nielsen to measure TV viewing occurring away from the home and in places such as hotels, gyms, bars, second-homes and the workplace. The syndicated service uses a fusion methodology to combine the PPM footprint across 44 local TV markets with Nielsen’s national representative panel, enabling Nielsen to represent 65% of TV U.S. households to project what people are watching outside of their homes.