Data measurement company Nielsen measures and analyzes data it collects from consumers to better track patterns about consumer behavior for major clients such as CBS, NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company.
Over the summer, Nielsen expanded its reporting system to better cover streaming apps. The Local Streaming Insights Quarterly Solution will be able to tell who’s watching what programming within a household and won’t assume everyone is watching programs together. Despite companies’ needs to adapt content and marketing strategies in a continuously digitizing environment, this level of observation might feel invasive to some users.
As more services like Netflix and Amazon explore and grow their relationships with Nielsen, users will have the option to not participate in certain aspects of the company’s data collection.
For example, here’s how to opt out of Nielsen’s measurement on Disney+.
- Log into your Disney+ account on your computer
- Click your profile icon
- Choose Account
- Scroll down to Settings and choose Manage Nielsen Measurement
- Uncheck Participate in Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR)
- Click Save
From Disney+’s page regarding Nielsen measurement:
The Disney+ service may feature Nielsen proprietary measurement software such as Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) when you stream Disney+, including on your television through streaming media players, smart TVs, Chromecast, Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, and similar devices (collectively, “Living Room Devices”) and mobile applications. Nielsen DAR allows Nielsen to measure the performance of ad campaigns viewed by our registered users. If you do not wish to participate in DAR on Living Room Devices and mobile applications, please indicate your preference by unchecking the box below. For more information about other Nielsen measurement software featured on the Disney+ service, such as TV ratings and the ability to opt-out, please visit our Privacy Policy.
According to The Walt Disney Company’s privacy policy, users are within their rights to limit participation in Nielsen’s digital measurement research as well as DAR on Hulu and Disney+ services.
Earlier this year, Nielsen and Netflix said the companies would expand their relationship to include a multi-year agreement to provide linear and streaming audience data in the US, Mexico and Poland.
“As the television landscape continues to evolve, it is critical for streaming services to understand and measure audience behavior and viewing preferences to make informed business decisions,” a Nielsen release said in January. “With insights from across Nielsen’s measurement services, Netflix will now have a holistic view of cross-media consumption.”
So far, it doesn’t appear that Netflix has integrated the Nielsen measurement feature, but once it does, the ability to opt-out should be found in a similar location to Disney+ and Hulu.