Nielsen joining the 21st century

NIELSEN IS SET to begin counting viewers who watch TV via streaming services Hulu and YouTube TV in its ratings.

The inclusion of the web-based services, which Nielsen announced Tuesday, is meant to keep up with how TV-watching habits have changed as a growing number of viewers have “cut the cord” — ditched their cable packages — and are relying on devices like smartphones, tablets, Roku, and Apple TV to stream content from network apps, websites and streamlined bundles like Sling TV.

Nielsen’s new Digital in TV Ratings (DTVR) model already counts DVR and on-demand viewers to its traditional TVwatching data.