Nielsen Pilot Shows 4.19% Lift From Co-Viewing

Overview

• Nielsen completed a test to count people watching together in the same room, known as co-viewing, and reported an average 4.19% lift in audience size for marquee broadcasts.
• The pilot covered Super Bowl LX, the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, the men’s hockey gold medal game, the Daytona 500, the NBA All-Star Game, and the State of the Union.
• The company said it is targeting full inclusion of this co-viewing measurement in time for the 2026–27 television season, though it is not part of official ratings yet.
• Nielsen gathered the added viewing data with smartwatch-style wearables that passively pick up audio codes from TV in participating panel homes.
• Ad buyers and leagues could see larger reported sports audiences once adopted, which would make past-year comparisons harder after earlier shifts like out-of-home counting and the Big Data sample, a push the NFL has urged as it argues games are still undercounted.