News FAQs

What’s your methodology?

Nielsen employs many different methodologies, depending on the type of data requested.

• Television data -  based on Nielsen sample homes, which are selected using proven sampling techniques, are collected via three technologies:
  • People Meters.  Through use of an electronic meter attached to the television set, People Meters collect daily data on household television usage and the viewing of each individual member of the household.  The meter transmits data to Nielsen every night. People Meters are used in Nielsen’s national television sample and in major local markets.
  • Set Meters.  These electronic meters collect daily data on household television usage only, and are used in mid-sized local television markets.  Demographic data for these markets is obtained through the use of paper diaries.
  • Diaries.  In smaller markets, sample members record their television viewing in 8-day paper diaries, and mail them to Nielsen upon completion.
  • More information can be found in Methodology. (link)

• Online data - High-quality, patented panel- and census-based technologies enable Nielsen to deliver accurate audience and Internet measurement metrics. We leverage a range of Web technologies, including tagging, probing, and ad collection to gather and analyze volumes of data, as well as surveys to provide a high-quality, accurate representation of Internet audience and consumer behavior.
  
  Nielsen recruits its robust online panel - the largest active panel of its kind - using Random Digital Dial (RDD) and online methodologies. This proprietary methodology combines the quality and representativeness of  RDD measurement’s demographics and behavior with the depth and granularity provided by an online-recruited panel.
  
  Nielsen BuzzMetrics monitors more than 100 million blogs and social networks worldwide and scours three million message posts daily to provide in-depth, accurate measurement of word-of-mouth and consumer-generated media (CGM). 

• Consumer Packaged Goods Data -  Our major market-measurement services measures consumer packaged goods (CPG) markets and trends at the retail level, in the home and on-the-go.
  • CPG sales, gathered at the point of sale in retail stores, including grocery, convenience, mass merchandiser, drug, and liquor.  These retail measurement services provide clients with essential facts on how their products are performing compared with their competitors, and on trends and changes in market conditions and sales results. They also provide critical information on the use of promotional activities at the retail level, such as special displays or pricing, and on distribution and stock conditions in retail stores.
  • Consumer purchases of CPG products, gathered through participating panels of consumer households and through customized studies. These consumer panel and customized research services provide a foundation for understanding and analyzing consumers’ motivations, attitudes, behavior, shopping patterns and demographic characteristics.
  • Information on other methodologies for data on Consumer Packaged Goods can be found in Methodology.(link)

Common Metrics

Television:

• Rating – A rating is a percent of the total universe, either of total television households or total number or persons in a given demo.  As such, a rating is always quantifiable, assuming the universe estimate is known.

• Share – A share is the percent of households or persons using television at the time the program is airing.  Thus, a share does not immediately tie back to an actual number, because it is a percent of a constantly changing number – TV sets in use.  Shares can be useful as a gauge of competitive standing.

• Projected Audience – Also referred to as Projections, Average Audience or AA 000. Expressing or projecting a rating in terms of the estimated number of households or persons reached.

Online:

• Unique Audience – Includes anyone who went to a site during the reporting period; repeat site visitors are not counted again. 
• Active Reach – The percent of active Web users who went to a specific site during the reporting period. Active Web users include anyone who went online or used an Internet application at least once during the reporting period.
• Time Per Person – The average time spent per person at a site during the reporting period (usually one month).

Why does your Online data occasionally differ from what companies report on their own Web sites?

• In general, companies rely on server log data to report and analyze their own internal Web traffic patterns, and there are a number of different reasons why discrepancies may occur between server and panel-based measurement data. Server logs register users based on Web page requests and can over count users who return to the Web site from a different PC or delete their cookies. Bot and spider traffic can also inflate certain server-based counts. Server logs do not provide reliable geographic or demographic information.

• Nielsen is able to provide accurate unique audience figures and detailed demographic information because of our rigorous recruitment, proprietary tracking and granular measurement processes. We do not count users who visit a site more than once in a specific time period, and we do not count spiders, bots and other Web crawling technologies which might otherwise be counted as page views or visitors on a company server log.
• Find out more information about online measurement.

How do I get data from Nielsen?

Members of the working press can receive a limited amount of Nielsen data at no charge, to be used only in articles for newspapers, magazines, online publications, or for on-air use in stories or interviews.  

Television Data:

• Television audience data is available on the Press Room and is open to registered users only.  If you do not already have access to this site, please fill out and submit this form.

Online Data:

• Some data is available to the public and the press.  You can access it by clicking on this link.
• For data that is not available online, members of the press should contact pr.us@nielsen.com.

Consumer Package Goods (CPG) Data:

• A selection of Nielsen reports on various CPG topics are available by clicking on this link.
• To request additional data, please submit this form.

How should I source Nielsen data?

Find out more about sourcing using our Sourcing Guide.

Where is Nielsen’s corporate headquarters?

Nielsen’s corporate headquarters is located in New York City.

The Nielsen Company
770 Broadway
New York, NY 10003-9595
USA

+1 646-654-5000