Billboard 100 & Nielsen TV Ratings Start To Catch Up With The Online Reality

In an acknowledgement of the evolution of how and where we consume entertainment,  Nielsen and Billboard have both begun factoring streaming figures into their results.

The New York Times reports that, as of this week, YouTube plays will be part of The Billboard Hot 100 formula.

We can thank the phenomenal viral success of Baauer’s song “Harlem Shake” for kicking the chart into the YouTube era. After nearly two years discussions with YouTube, Billboard suddenly pushed ahead with its methodology update in response to the breakout success of “Harlem Shake.” It will debut at number one this week. Billboard does already incorporate data from Spotify and other streaming sources.

The definition of TV viewership is also getting a modern reboot. Nielsen Co. will expand its TV Ratings to include data from Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and other streaming services viewed from set-top boxes, and TV enabled gaming systems, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The target for year-end apparently is to add iPad viewing into the mix.

In December, Nielsen and Twitter announced they will start measuring online conversations about TV series beginning this fall.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin was formerly Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.