Nielsen to Measure Out-of-Home TV Viewing

Nielsen announced a plan to measure out-of-home viewing for national TV programs, it said in a news release Monday. The service will give subscribers audience estimates that combine in-home TV viewing with out-of-home viewing numbers based on Portable People Meter (PPM) data, the company said. It "gives us the ability to capture out-of-home viewing precisely as it happens ... while transacting on new, valuable audience segments for advertisers," said ESPN Senior Vice President-Global Research Artie Bulgrin. The service will provide “both program and commercial ratings (C3/C7) for live through live + 7 days of time-shifted viewing,” Nielsen said: The PPM device, which panelists carry with them, will allow Nielsen to measure TV viewing in places like restaurants and bars. "The out-of-home viewing will be based on data from over 75,000 PPM panelists across 44 local markets,” Nielsen said. The company expects the new service to launch in April, with data effective in January. Data going back to last month will be added shortly after the service launches, Nielsen said.