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Second Nielsen Total Audience Solution Granted MRC Accreditation

2 minute read | February 2017

We’re excited to announce that Nielsen’s Digital in TV Ratings has been granted accreditation by the Media Ratings Council (MRC)! Digital in TV Ratings launched in 2015 and accounts for TV viewing occurring on desktop and mobile devices when the program content and commercials match the linear TV airing. It draws on Nielsen Total Audience methodology, combining census-based data, person demographics and our gold-standard representative panels to report audiences across National and Local People Meter markets.

Digital in TV Ratings is the second component of our Total Audience framework to gain MRC accreditation, joining Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings. It is also the first solution to receive accreditation from the MRC for its contribution to TV audience measurement for programming viewed on computers and mobile devices.

MRC Executive Director and CEO George W. Ivie said, “We congratulate Nielsen for meeting the rigorous requirements necessary to earn MRC accreditation for Digital in TV Ratings. With this validation of its measurement of TV programming viewed on computers and mobile devices, Nielsen has taken an important step in its efforts to meet the needs of the marketplace to have a fuller view into the consumption of TV programming across platforms, regardless of how it is being consumed.”

This accreditation by the MRC will provide media buyers and sellers with an additional level of confidence as they leverage the solution to account for audiences across desktops, tablets and smartphones, in addition to TV—allowing them to most effectively distribute premium content and sell across these screens. Clients such as ABC, CBS, Freeform and Univision are currently using this capability.

“With our Total Audience strategy, we are able to provide the industry with broader audience coverage and inclusion—whether it’s C3, C7 or beyond—as clients look to monetize their audiences across all screens,” said Megan Clarken, President, Product Leadership for Nielsen. “This independent and transparent validation of our methodology to include digital desktop and mobile viewing is another significant step toward delivering Total Audience to the marketplace, and we are very pleased to be able to say that our developments meet the level of quality and rigor that MRC accreditation represents.”

We look forward to continuing to work with the MRC to gain accreditation for other Nielsen Total Audience solutions, such as Digital Content Ratings, and we also intend to seek accreditation for Total Content Ratings.