Nielsen revamps The Gauge Mexico to offer more precise streaming measurement

Nielsen yesterday announced an update to their Mexican television viewership report, "The Gauge Mexico." This update aims to provide more accurate data on streaming viewership habits in Mexico.

The rise of streaming services has significantly impacted how people consume television content. Accurate measurement of streaming viewership is crucial for media companies, advertisers, and content creators to understand audience preferences and make informed decisions.

Prior to this update, Nielsen relied on a laboratory panel consisting of 200 broadband households in three major Mexican cities (Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey) to estimate streaming consumption. This data formed the basis of The Gauge Mexico reports.

Nielsen is transitioning from the laboratory panel to a more representative sample. They have installed a subsample of 450 households across 28 Mexican cities. This data will be used in conjunction with existing audience measurement studies to generate The Gauge Mexico report. The plan is to further expand the sample size to 900 households in the third quarter of 2024.

Initial data from the new panel suggests that linear television still dominates, accounting for 51.6% of TV consumption in the 28 surveyed cities. Streaming services, however, hold a significant share at 17.6%. This highlights the growing importance of accurately measuring streaming viewership.

Nielsen emphasizes its commitment to "converged TV measurement," aiming to capture a holistic view of television consumption across traditional and streaming platforms. This will provide valuable insights for stakeholders in the Mexican media industry.

The pie chart included in the Nielsen for May report offers a visual representation of this data, segmenting the total television consumption into the four categories:

• Broadcast (39.5%): This encompasses live and time-shifted viewing of free-to-air television channels.
• Pay TV (8.9%): This includes live and time-shifted viewing of pay television channels.
• Streaming (17.6%): This represents high-bandwidth streaming content accessed through a household's broadband network, excluding what is categorized under Broadcast or Pay TV.
• Others (34.8%): This encompasses a miscellaneous category that includes live viewing of non-measured linear channels, use of peripheral devices (e.g., gaming consoles) for purposes other than broadband streaming, and periods of no audio detected on the television set.