First TV Station Adds in Nielsen Mobile Figures

Independent San Francisco-based TV station KTSF has become the first to have TV viewing via mobiles added into its ratings figures courtesy of Nielsen's SDK and its recent deal with tech firm Syncbak.

Nielsen announced in April that it had agreed to integrate its SDK with Syncbak's portfolio of applications, 'though at the time the measurement giant's SVP Local Media Product Leadership Farshad Family said it would be 'late 2014' before mobile local viewers were being incorporated into existing television measurement.

KTSF has been broadcasting in Asian languages since 1976 and its audience of 1.7m is reportedly well ahead of the curve in terms of watching TV on mobiles, making it an attractive option to launch the technology. The option to combine ratings will be available to all clients in local markets encoding with Nielsen Watermarks, when running simultaneous streaming / simulcasting, and with Syncbak's platform used in more than 150 television stations across the US, more deals are likely to follow the KTSF announcement.

The station has also launched its local TV App in the Apple App Store, with an Android version to follow shortly. General Manager Michael Sherman comments: 'We think Nielsen's SDK, allowing us to be at the cutting edge of audience measurement, will help paint a clearer picture of our overall audience to advertisers.'

Nielsen's mobile measurement software allows analysis by demographics, ad campaigns and program episodes watched, and live viewing versus On Demand. According to Family, 'Nielsen and KTSF are working together to reflect a new reality in content consumption on smartphones and tablets'.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .