The folks at Nielsen have a new way to tap into hard-to-find demographics. The company announced a rollout of 3,000 Portable People Meter wearables being experimented with amongst its 60,000 active PPM panelists.
The devices look similar to many of the smartwatches on the market today and are worn as keychains, wristbands, clips, and pendants, which the company found to be more appealing among demographics that typically have lower compliance.
PPM is Nielsen’s way to pinpoint audio, local TV, and national audience measurement. The devices measure in-home and out-of-home tuning for audio and local TV. The wearable supports Nielsen ONE, which is a cross-media metric that delivers data on consumption across TV, digital, and audio.
“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,” Nielsen’s Chief Research and Data Officer Mainak Mazumdar said in the press release. “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.”
The company is also rolling out a new app to pair with the PPM wearable. This app helps facilitate communication, encourage participation and enable data transmission anytime the device is outside the house.
Nielsen has been the gold standard for many media rating metrics for years. They know to keep that level of execution they needed to meet the younger generation where they are, not make them come to Nielsen. The company hopes this innovation improves their panels and makes cross-platform measurement a reality in a fragmented media world.
The company plans on rolling this sample out over the next year and reporting on the findings in the second quarter of 2022.