When you start the questionnaire, you will be asked a few eligibility questions.

People who work for Nielsen, their immediate family members, domestic partners, or members of their household, as well as people who work in the media industry (or anything related to it), cannot be members of the Nielsen Ratings.

If you’re eligible and decide to join, after completing the full questionnaire and scheduling your set-up call, you’ll receive an email about your $50 prepaid reward card.

The first part of the questionnaire is a few questions to make sure your household is eligible to participate. If you’re eligible, then you’ll be asked registration questions about you, your household and the devices in your home. The time to complete this part of the questionnaire varies depending on household size, but please plan for 20 minutes or more. If you need to stop and come back, we’ll save your place—just keep your login info handy.

The Nielsen Media Ratings include information about what shows are watched in households across the nation. Whether you watch network shows live or stream new and old favorites, Nielsen measures it. Our equipment is able to detect live viewing, streaming and pre-recorded content.

No, they aren’t—ratings and reviews are very different. The Nielsen Ratings count the number of people in the ratings who watched or listened to something, but reviews are opinions that can come from anyone. Our ratings are also not the same as parental movie “ratings,” which review a film’s content to understand if it’s appropriate for viewers of different ages.

No. We’ll never ask you to buy anything or pay to be part of the ratings. We also won’t give your name or contact information to any company that would try to sell you something. In fact, you’ll be rewarded for your participation.

When you complete the survey and set your appointment, you’ll receive a $50 digital reward card by email. Next, we’ll contact you by phone with more information on next steps and about setting up your Nielsen equipment. You’ll have the option to do a self-setup, where we walk you through the process, or we can send a representative to your home to do the setup for you. Once the equipment is installed, your participation will begin.

That’s it! Your viewing will be measured and your media choices will contribute to the ratings. Our equipment is designed not to interfere with your watching or listening. You’ll just continue watching and listening as you normally do. Your participation will be rewarded with ongoing monetary rewards.

Most people choose to participate for up to three to five years. Participation is always voluntary and you can stop at any time.

People from all over the U.S., from rural to urban areas, are invited to join and represent their communities. First, a county within a state is selected. Next, within that selected county, a group of block areas is chosen. Specifically selected homes within that block area are then invited to join. It doesn’t matter if there’s one person in your household or 10, if you live in a city or a small town—you could be selected.

We use a combination of publicly available telephone, address and Census information to select homes that we invite to join the ratings.

Nielsen needs people of all backgrounds to participate to create the most complete picture of TV viewing and streaming in the U.S. Each person that takes part makes the ratings more accurate. So, no matter how often you watch TV, what programs you watch or what language you watch them in, you can help to make sure that people like you are represented in the ratings.

When Nielsen combines your viewing data with that of other households, it becomes part of a larger dataset. Companies using Nielsen ratings can’t identify you personally. Instead, they see trends about what people with similar characteristics—such as age, race, ethnicity, and gender—watch or listen to. These companies never have access to information that could identify you or your family members specifically. This process allows Nielsen to provide valuable insights while protecting your privacy. Read more about our privacy notice.

Nielsen uses advanced methods, similar to those used by banks, to make your personal information and viewing data anonymous and encrypted. We store your data securely and follow strict industry standards to ensure its safety. Your personal information remains confidential and won’t be used for targeted advertising or marketing.

Absolutely not. The information from your home is held strictly confidential—We WON’T provide your name, address or telephone number to other companies  and we do not allow our clients to sell directly to you.