Fox Sports Signs Up for Nielsen Out-of-Home Service

Fox Sports has signed up for Nielsen’s National Out-of-Home reporting service, which counts people watching ballgames on TV in bars, hotels and other locations.

The ratings lift a game can get by adding out-of-home viewers can be significant. Nielsen said Fox NFL regular-season games saw a 16% lift from out-of-home viewing last season.

Fox, ESPN and some other TV companies are negotiating to add out-of-home viewers to the eyeballs they sell to advertisers in the current upfront market. ESPN was the first to subscribe to the Nielsen out-out-of-home reporting service when it launched in April.

Related: Nielsen Launches Out-of-Home TV Ratings Service

The multi-year agreement covers Fox Sports on broadcast, FS1, FS2 and Fox Deportes with program and commercial ratings ranging from live to live plus 7 days of delayed viewing.

“Sports are being watched everywhere, every day and on every type of screen. Our business has to keep pace with changes in viewer behavior,” said Eric Shanks, president, chief operating officer and executive producer, Fox Sports.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.