• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 20, 2007

As part of its bid to measure video-based programming anytime and anywhere consumers watch it, Nielsen this month will go mobile, deploying 100 new metering devices designed to plug into iPods, video cell phones and other so-called "portable video devices." The metering devices, dubbed "solo meters," are about the size of a lipstick case and plug in between the earphones and the earphone jack of the portable video gear.

Nielsen unveiled the plan as part of an update on its mobile video measurement plans released to clients on Thursday.

"About one hundred of the devices are currently being built and will be used for an internal technology test that will begin in July 2007," Nielsen said, adding that results would be released in the fourth quarter.

The new meters are part of a multi-pronged plan Nielsen has begun implementing to assess the market for portable video devices and to figure out how to measure how people watch video programming on them. The portable media measurement plans were unveiled last year, and Nielsen said it has made considerable progress, including the formation of a panel of iPod owners that will specifically track how they utilize the Apple products to download video and audio content via Apple's iTunes portable and content management system.

Nielsen said it also has formed a separate wireless division that has begun exploring new methods for measuring mobile video programming with the major wireless carriers, but no deals have been announced to date.

Nielsen has also stepped up its tracking of portable and personal video devices via an ongoing technology tracking study, as well as by periodically asking members of its conventional TV ratings panels what type of personal video gear they have.

"Nearly all panel members were contacted by the end of February," Nielsen said. "These PVD questions will become part of the regular household interview in May, 2007. Collecting this information from our samples will enable us to look at device penetration across the U.S. and produce television viewership analyses among households and persons who use these devices."

Nielsen has not released official penetration estimates for such personal video devices, but in Thursday's update it provides some of the current tracking data coming out of its home technology studies. The data shows that portable and in-car DVD players are by far the most common of these devices, but that video-enabled MP3 players, including video iPods, are growing at the fastest rate, with ownership rising to 10% of the population in the first quarter of this year from 7% in the fourth quarter of 2006. Interestingly, Nielsen's tracking data shows that the penetration of video-enabled cell phones has actually fallen, dropping to 9% of the population from 11% (see data below).

Does Your Home Own Or Rent:
	3Q '06	4Q '06	1Q '07
Video Cell Phones	11%	11%	9%
Video MP3 Players	6%	7%	10%
Sony PSP	5%	5%	6%
Portable DVD Player	10%	11%	14%
In-Car DVD Player	11%	12%	12%
Source: Nielsen Home Technology Report.