CBS joins ABC in subscribing to Nielsen’s out-of-home measurement service

CBS said it is now using Nielsen’s National Out-of-Home Reporting Service.

“The agreement is effective immediately and provides CBS with out-of-home viewing data, including ratings for all programming and commercial content that aired on the Network for live plus seven days of time-shifted viewing,” the companies said in a release announcing the news.

"Being able to measure CBS' content and uncover additional viewers outside the confines of their homes will help us showcase the breadth and depth of our valuable programming to clients in a more robust way," David F. Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS and president of its CBS Vision division, said in a release. "Nielsen's Out-of-Home service has been discussed primarily with regards to sports, but we are pleased this agreement covers all of the Network's programming and that Nielsen is moving in the right direction as it pertains to measuring the total audience."

Nielsen explained that its offering helps measure subscribers via an opt-in service for both in-home and out-of-home activities, and that it covers 77,000 installed panelists. The company pointed out that, during the most recent NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, it found that out-of-home viewing for the Final Four games on CBS delivered an additional average lift of 18.9%, raising the average rating to 5.6, or 1.1 million additional viewers per game.

CBS’ announcement comes just a month after ABC said it signed on for Nielsen's national out-of-home reporting service, giving ABC data and ratings for all content aired on the network live plus 7 days of time-shifted viewing.

CBS Television Stations earlier this year said it signed a deal with Nielsen for its Local Television Measurement. The deal covers local market ratings for CBS owned and operated stations in 17 U.S. markets.