Social media and streaming will now count towards Nielsen TV ratings


No longer will television ratings be restricted to data gathered from Nielsen "boxes" in select homes; the measurement information company will now look at streaming as well as conversations on Twitter and Facebook, Mediaite reports.
The new social media system is called "Social Content Ratings," and will measure conversations continuously, rather than only when a show airs. In its deal with Facebook, this means that Nielsen will receive data on conversations about TV shows even when they are mentioned in posts that aren't marked "public."
Nielsen data is used by media companies to better understand what shows to develop and market; advertisers use it to decide where to buy ads. According to The New York Times, the changes further integrate increasingly important social ratings into the industry.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures A silver-painted boy, a raging flood, and more
-
Roblox, one of the world's most popular video games, has become a bastion of hate speech
The Explainer The platform has over 111 million daily users
-
Russian strike on Kyiv kills 23, hits EU offices
Speed Read The strike was the second-largest since Russia invaded in 2022
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year