Nielsen, AT&T to Use Set-Top-Box Viewing Data for Ratings

NEW YORK—In an effort to increase understanding of audiences and their viewing trends, Nielsen has announced a multi-year agreement with AT&T to include set-top-box data from connected homes subscribed to AT&T’s DirecTV and U-Verse services.

Nielsen will combine its panel data with anonymous TV viewing data from DirecTV and U-Verse subscribers, which Nielsen will then use for reporting on an aggregated basis. The goal for the data from AT&T is to help boost Nielsen’s local and national TV measurement services, providing electronic measurement in all 210 local TV markets.

Data from AT&T’s DirecTV and U-Verse set-top-boxes will also be incorporate with data from other data providers to complement Nielsen’s national and local suite of products; this includes Nielsen Scarborough, NLTV and Nielsen N-Score.