• by Wayne Friedman , August 16, 2017

ABC Television Network is the latest TV network to sign up for Nielsen’s National Out-of-Home Reporting Service.

This agreement provides ABC with out-of-home viewing data, including ratings for all content — programs and commercials — aired on the network for live-plus-seven days of time-shifted viewing.

Earlier this year, Disney-ABC Television ESPN and ESPN2 became the first two networks across broadcast and cable to sign up for this opt-in syndicated service.

Last month, Turner networks also signed up for the service.

Out-of-home metrics are particularly important for sports TV services; viewers can typically watch in bars, restaurants and airports. It can also be helpful for news networks, for example, Turner’s CNN.

The service derives results from Nielsen’s portable people meter (PPM) technology of nearly 77,000 installed panelists. Nielsen uses fusion methodology to combine the PPM footprint across 44 local TV markets with Nielsen’s national representative panel.

With this service, Nielsen can represent 65% of U.S. TV homes of people watching outside of their homes.