Nielsen launched a pilot wearable device during Super Bowl LX that tracks co-viewing of major live TV events.

The wearable device worn on the wrists – resembling smart watches – detects an acoustic watermark code not audible to humans, but TV networks insert the sound in content that airs, similar to Nielsen’s in-home TV meters.

Nielsen’s has used what it calls Portable People Meter (PPM) technology for more than two decades, but this is a major update to the technology because it measures each viewer in co-viewing experiences like live sporting events.

If five people participate in the PPM panel in the room when a game airs, each of the meters people wear will detect codes for the network, and automatically be counted as part of the audience.

When asked to cite the farthest distance the wearable can detect the code, a Nielsen spokesperson said the distance in which the device can hear the audible frequency, despite the human not detecting the sound.

The audible watermark is embedded in the audio of the content that airs. If the wearable meter can hear the audio, then the watermark is captured and Nielsen can credit the viewing, the Nielsen spokesperson said.

The watermark tone is only audible to the wearable device, not the person wearing it, which bring up the issue of technical accuracy. And there are other questions such as the actual distance in which the person can hear, especially if they have a hearing impediment.  

As TV turns into a performance play, the transition from household to individual data measurement creates several shifts in performance reporting because live events suffer from a measurement gap, as sports programming and major entertainment broadcasts frequently generate group viewing that single-viewer metrics fail to accurately represent.

Nielsen’s new technology aims to address a fundamental limitation in television audience tracking, which occurs when multiple people in the home watch the same television screen simultaneously. Traditional measurement systems struggle to capture an accurate and credible metric of the full viewing audience. And live events suffer from this the most.

Karthik Rao, CEO at Nielsen, wrote in a blog post that the co-viewing pilot builds on the company’s mission to continually push measurement and performance to the next step. In this case it works alongside recent improvements in Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel, out of home expansion, live streaming measurement.

Nielsen will share the pilot data with clients after final ratings delivery, but it will not be immediately incorporated into its official measurement offerings. Big Data + Panel ratings will remain the official measurement “currency” for advertising transactions, the company said.

The pilot data will be made available to Nielsen clients following the delivery of standard ratings, and Nielsen hopes to incorporate the new measurement system during the 2026-2027 season.

During Super Bowl LX, Nielsen launched a pilot wearable device that tracks co-viewing of major live TV events. A watermark or tone audible to the wearable device, not audible to the person wearing it, could bring up the question of technical accuracy.