Nielsen and Roku Expand Strategic Measurement Partnership

New multi-year deal integrates Roku’s data to fuel Nielsen’s measurement suite

Roku gains access to Nielsen’s streaming ratings showing The Roku Channel is the #2 streaming app in ad-supported TV time

Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and analytics, and Roku, a leading TV streaming platform*, announced an expansion of their long-term strategic partnership. Building on years of collaboration, this next phase will incorporate Roku data into Nielsen’s advanced campaign measurement and outcome solutions.

With streaming on Roku devices alone making up more than 21% of all TV viewing**, advertisers can get a more accurate view of what audiences watch across services through measurement powered by Roku’s data. As part of this expanded multi-year strategic partnership, Nielsen will continue using Roku’s large-scale TV data as input to its Big Data + Panel measurement for both Linear and Streaming Ratings. This will help deliver more accurate performance results for advertisers running campaigns on Roku and across the broader TV landscape.

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As part of the strategic partnership, Roku will also gain access to Nielsen’s Streaming Platform Ratings, which provide a comprehensive view of how audiences engage with both subscription and ad-supported services. According to Nielsen, about seven in 10 TV streaming hours are now ad-supported. This insight is especially important as The Roku Channel, Roku’s free ad-supported streaming app, continues to grow and is now the second-largest streaming app based on share of ad-supported TV time***.

This announcement builds upon Nielsen’s momentum in leading the industry in audience measurement, including streaming. Nielsen continues to be the premier source of streaming TV measurement, releasing The Gauge, the Media Distributor Gauge, and the Nielsen Streaming Top 10. In a typical month, Nielsen measures more than 1 trillion minutes of viewing across all streaming apps.

“With our leadership in streaming measurement and this data from Roku, we are providing the most accurate view of what audiences are watching across all of TV. And at Nielsen, we continue to see a move towards ad-supported streaming services, with The Roku Channel a leader in the category. This strategic partnership brings together Nielsen’s strength and expertise in streaming measurement with Roku’s category leadership positioning to provide a solution that addresses a timely industry need: granular insights and analytics that marketers need to grow their brand as well as drive results,” said Ameneh Atai, GM, Audience Measurement at Nielsen.

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“Our extended strategic partnership with Nielsen will help further our goal of a better TV advertising system, focused on interoperability and driving performance. Together, Roku and Nielsen will take streaming measurement to a new level, ensuring that advertisers and publishers have access to best-in-class measurement and insights,” said Sarah Harms, Vice President of Marketing and Measurement at Roku.

Nielsen has made a number of innovations this year, including accreditation for its Big Data + Panel measurement, following its November 2024 accreditation for first-party live streaming. In February, Nielsen announced its Out-of-Home (OOH) measurement now covers 100% of the U.S. contiguous television population. Big Data + Panel is being used as currency for Upfront transactions for the first time this year.

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