DISH STB Data First to Be Added to Nielsen Panel

Nielsen has signed a multi-year agreement with cable and satellite television group DISH Network, to add the latter's aggregated set-top-box (STB) data to its National and Local TV ratings service. Nielsen says this is the first nationwide dataset to be calibrated with its panel.

The deal will see anonymized data from millions of DISH households combined with person-level insights from Nielsen's local markets, to offer the industry a deeper understanding of viewing habits. Initially, the data provided by DISH will be integrated into Nielsen's Local TV measurement service across all 210 designated market areas.

DISH's STB data will also be combined with other Nielsen local and national products including Scarborough, Data Fusion, Media Custom Insights, and multiple national insight services; and will enhance its suite of marketing effectiveness and return-on-ad-sales solutions, including CPG, retail and auto.

Nielsen COO Steve Hasker (pictured) comments: 'DISH's set-top-box data is the first nationwide dataset to be integrated with our panel data, reaching the perfect balance of deep viewing characteristics and the granularity of large datasets. As the global leader in audience measurement, this is another step in our efforts to integrate big data into our portfolio and our Total Audience efforts'.

Separately, comScore has renewed its long-term agreement with DISH Network (signed by Rentrak prior to its acquisition by comScore), to continue integration of the latter's TV viewing information with its TV measurement service.

Web sites: www.nielsen.com and www.dish.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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