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Nielsen to track TV show views on Roku, Apple TV, Xbox and more
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Mar 25, 2016
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Nielsen to track TV show views on Roku, Apple TV, Xbox and more
Nielsen has decided to track views of TV shows on individual platforms like Roku and Apple TV, but could this impact the future of ratings?
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 9: Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue speaks about the new Apple tv on stage during a Special Event at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium September 9, 2015 in San Francisco, California. Apple Inc. is expected to unveil latest iterations of its smart phone, forecasted to be the 6S and 6S Plus. The tech giant is also rumored to be planning to announce an update to its Apple TV set-top box. (Photo by Stephen Lam/ Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 9: Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue speaks about the new Apple tv on stage during a Special Event at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium September 9, 2015 in San Francisco, California. Apple Inc. is expected to unveil latest iterations of its smart phone, forecasted to be the 6S and 6S Plus. The tech giant is also rumored to be planning to announce an update to its Apple TV set-top box. (Photo by Stephen Lam/ Getty Images)
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Nielsen has decided to track views of TV shows on individual platforms like Roku and Apple TV, but could this impact the future of ratings?

Over the past few years, the systems that rate TV shows have struggled to keep up with the changing ways we watch.

First, there was a struggle over whether to include shows that people recorded and watched later on the DVRs. Then, ratings companies figured out that plenty of viewers had shifted to on-demand services like Hulu, so they decided to track streaming numbers. But now, Nielsen, the ratings company, is going to get even more granular when it comes to online viewing by tracking the individual tools that people are using to watch shows. 

What does this mean for the future of TV? Todd Spangler wrote about this for Variety and he joins A Martinez to talk about it.