Nielsen To Measure TV Viewing On Mobile Devices

Everyone’s getting a ratings boost on TV soon, as the all-important Nielsen measuring service will finally start taking into account shows watched on mobile devices as they try to keep up with the times.

According to tvovermind.com, Nielsen will now track shows watched on phones and tablets, in addition to the other new formats they’ve added including digital streaming and DVR-ing. There are now endless ways to consume TV content in this day and age, and Nielsen runs the risk of becoming obsolete if they can’t keep up with the changing marketplace who no longer wants to watch TV live.

Mobile viewing will likely add hundreds of thousands of viewers to various shows overnight, and the audience will skew younger as well.

Right now the median age of the live TV viewer is 55. Twenty years ago it was 40. Young viewers are flocking to their computers or mobile devices to watch shows now, and advertisers desperately need that data.

Right now Video on Demand (Netflix and such) is growing faster than DVR viewing, meaning more people are watching online, or even waiting to binge-watch their shows.