Nielsen said about 3,000 of its nearly 60,000 portable people meter panelists will be getting new Portable People Meter Wearables, starting in September.
The new wearable technology is part of Nielsen’s effort to modernize its panels, improve the panelist experience and increase participation among more challenging demographics.
The data from the PPM Wearable will be used to measure national and local TV and audio and measure out-of-home tune-in.
Nielsen said the wearable PPM metering will be a key part of Nielsen One, the company’s upcoming measurement system designed to deliver a single, deduplicated metric for total media consumption across TV, digital and audio.
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Nielsen has been under fire for the way it managed its panels, which resulted in undercounting viewing during the pandemic. Nielsen has said it is again managing those panel homes in person and is restoring the number of homes in the panels to pre-pandemic levels.
The wearable people meter is smaller and can be worn as a wristband, using clips or as pendants.
"By modernizing our panels with the PPM Wearable, we are not only improving the overall panelist experience and increasing engagement, but also ensuring our measurement is durable and can adapt to evolving technology changes," said Mainak Mazumdar, Nielsen's chief research and data officer. "This is another example of how Nielsen is continuing to innovate in our march towards Nielsen One in order to create a better media future for the entire industry."
Nielsen said it plans to share top-line findings in Q2 2022 of the subset of panelists in this phase, with the full rollout of PPM Wearables in new panel households planned for the second half of 2022.
