A key industry board has given the go-ahead to nielsen incorporate the data that streaming services collect into their Television ratings measurement.

The Media Rating Council, a watchdog group that enforces standards for audience measurement, approved a plan in which Nielsen will integrate first-party streaming data into the company’s panel-based national television ratings. The council has also renewed its accreditation for Nielsen’s national measurement panel.

The Media Rating Council’s vote of confidence could open the door for several media companies to begin using “panel plus big data” measurement for live programming that airs on both linear TV and streaming (which currently They are mainly live sports). Currently, Amazon is the only Nielsen client that uses integrated measurement, for its Thursday night football television broadcasts (that agreement ruffled some feathers in the industry when it started in 2023).

“We are delighted and honored to obtain self-approval from the MRC. “It is a great affirmation of Nielsen’s ability to innovate at market speed, while doing so in a secure and verified way,” Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said in a statement. “With proven methodologies like our panel of credentialed people and precise new solutions for the streaming era, we believe Nielsen is right where the industry needs us to be: at the convergence of all the ways people watch content. “This will give the industry real insight into linear and streaming viewing like never before.”

The panel plus big data figures for Thursday night football over the past five weeks they have shown an increase of about 8 percent, or just under 1 million viewers, over the panel measure alone. Other Nielsen clients are in talks with the company to also incorporate their own measurement; some, including NBC and Fox, already publish their own cross-platform viewing totals for big events.

The Media Rating Council’s approval will also cover any future data integration from streaming platforms, which could further incentivize other Nielsen clients to opt in.

“We congratulate Nielsen on renewing the accreditation of its national television measurement panel and receiving approval to integrate its first-party broadcast data into the measurement panel,” said George Ivie, executive director and CEO of the MRC. “This was a significant effort and we appreciate Nielsen’s continued commitment to the MRC accreditation process.”