COMPUTER & MOBILE PANEL

Nielsen U.S. Panel Privacy Notice Summary

Nielsen is committed to protecting panelists’ privacy and handling information in an open and transparent manner. This Summary and attached Privacy Notice describe how Nielsen collects and uses information from and about you and the other members of your household in connection with your participation in the Nielsen U.S. Panel.

Information Collection

We collect information relating to you and the other members of your household – including any children in your household – in a variety of ways, including:

The majority of the information that we collect from and about you can be grouped into three general categories:

We DO NOT request or collect “private information,” such as your driver’s license, information relating to your financial/bank accounts or credit cards, or account passwords.

Information Use

We generally use the information that we collect in order to perform market research and prepare reports and analyses for our clients. The reports and analyses that we deliver to our clients help them make informed decisions on various topics, such as where and how to advertise their products and services to consumers. When we prepare reports and share insights with our clients, we use tools and methods that are designed to ensure that there is no reasonable possibility of identifying you or any other member of your household.

We may also use your information where necessary in order to (among other things):

For full details about how we use the information that we collect or otherwise obtain from and about you, please review the “Information Use” section of the accompanying Privacy Notice.

We WILL NOT use your personal information to advertise, promote, market, or sell third-party goods or services directly to you or other members of your household; we do not allow our clients to do so either.

Information Sharing

In connection with the purposes described in the accompanying Privacy Notice, we may share your information with certain parties, including:

We do not sell your personal information to third parties for their own commercial use.

Your Choices and Rights

Your household’s participation in the Panel is always voluntary. Your household can withdraw from the Panel at any time as described in your Panel Agreement.

As a privacy-conscious organization, we are committed to providing you with reasonable access to your personal information and the ability to review and update such information. Details on how you can access and update/correct your personal information and exercise your rights under applicable privacy laws can be found in the accompanying Privacy Notice.

Your Participation

We conduct research on the usage of many different media platforms, and you and the other members of your household can participate in different types of measurement.

You (and your household) may agree to be measured on:

 

Nielsen Panel Privacy Notice

(U.S. Panel Members)

Effective Date: September 2023

Thank you for agreeing to join our select group of panelists.

For decades, Nielsen has set the global standard for market and consumer insight research are based on representative samples of the population and help our clients (e.g., broadcasters, media companies, manufacturers, retailers, non-profit organisations, and government bodies) learn about what consumers watch, listen to , or are otherwise exposed to, as well as their preferences and behaviors. By participating in our panel, you are supporting the creation of industry-standard statistics and influencing programming and advertising content on the media platforms where you agree to be measured.

The Nielsen Company (US), LLC and its affiliated companies and subsidiaries (”Nielsen,” ”we,” or ”us”) take your privacy very seriously. This Privacy Notice explains how we use, share, and protect the information that we collect from and about you in connection with your household’s participation in the Nielsen U.S. Panel (the ”Panel”) and your legal rights in relation to such data.

Please be sure each member of your household reads this Privacy Notice carefully.

By accepting the terms of this Privacy Notice, you are confirming that you are authorized to agree to this Privacy Notice on behalf of yourself and the other members of your household. References to “you” or “your” in this Privacy Notice refer to you and any other members of your household.

A. Our Privacy Commitment

Nielsen protects the identities of all of our panelists and handles their information in compliance with all applicable US privacy laws, including state privacy laws. We collect and use personal information – information that alone or in combination with other information identifies you as an individual or can be reasonably linked to your identity – only as described in this Privacy Notice.

We will NOT use your personal information to advertise, promote, market, or sell third-party goods or services directly to you or other members of your household; we do not allow our clients to do so either.

B. Information Collection

As a potential or current participant in the Panel, we will collect or otherwise obtain information relating to you in a variety of ways. The majority of the information that we will collect from and about you can be grouped into three broad categories:

Additional details about the information that we may collect or obtain from or about you and the sources of such information can be found below.

Information provided or made available by you (or another member of your household)

During the recruitment and registration process, we will gather information about you and the other members of your household through the voluntary completion of our online recruitment questionnaire and other panel registration activities. The information requested and collected by us is used to help determine your household’s eligibility for participation in the Panel and may include your:

Once your household has joined the Panel, we may, from time to time, ask you to participate in surveys, studies, or questionnaires and provide us with additional information (mainly behavior data and preference data) in order to help us better understand consumer behaviors and trends.

Some of the information that we request and collect, including in connection with certain surveys or studies, may be considered “special” or “sensitive” personal information (i.e., information relating to your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or other similar beliefs, philosophical beliefs, health or medical conditions, or sexual orientation). Where we collect such information, we will use it in the ways described in this Privacy Notice (e.g., to help us prepare reports on TV viewing among different demographic groups) or as described in a separate notice provided at the point where such information is requested from you, as well as in accordance with applicable law.

Information collected via our metering equipment and software

Once your household has joined the Panel, we may receive information from:

General Information - TV Panel Only:

Once your household has agreed to join the TV Panel, we will obtain data through meters installed in your home and other technology. Specifically, we will install a TV meter (”Nielsen Meter”) and/or a streaming meter (”Nielsen Streaming Meter”) in your home. These meters are designed to monitor TV usage and/or streaming activity from your Smart TV(s) and other digital device(s) (e.g., tablets and smartphones) and collect data about your access and exposure to content on your TV(s) and other digital device(s), including when you are exposed to content and the source of the content (e.g., the TV station or website domain). Additional details about how the meters work can be found below.

The Streaming Meter does not review, store, or record content from any website that you visit (e.g., emails) or data that you insert, submit, post, or upload on any website that you visit (e.g., usernames, passwords, account numbers, credit card numbers, social media posts, etc.).

In order to collect information about devices you own or use, they will be registered by our Technician when the streaming meter is first installed in your household or by yourself using the Nielsen mobile application. New or replacement devices or devices not present in the home when the Technician is visiting can be added and registered using the ”Nielsen Panelist Portal” and/or Nielsen mobile application. Once a device has been registered, we will automatically collect data each time that device joins your network. Information from devices that have not been registered or from visitors to your Household that connect to the wifi router will be collected by our technology. This data is limited to viewing activity that takes place on the device and does not include any identifying information, it is used to produce aggregated viewing reports.

It is important that visitors to the Household are made aware of this data collection before they connect to the WiFi and information specifically for them will be provided to you by our technicians when they install our equipment. It can also be found in the Household booklet.

Participation in mobile device measurement

If your household’s participation in the Panel includes measurement of your mobile device(s), once you have downloaded the Technology, it will run in the background and transmit certain information to us automatically, including:

The Technology may track activity on your Devices whether you are offline or online. It cannot read, save, or record any of the content of any of the emails, messages, or files that you access or are otherwise stored on your Device(s).

Information collected in connection with your use of the Website

As is true of most websites, when you visit and interact with any Nielsen website where this Privacy Notice is posted or linked (collectively, the “Website”), we may automatically collect certain information, including log usage data (e.g., when you view or click on content) and information from your device and network, such as your device’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, device identifier and features, browser operating system and version, access date and time, and referring website address.

For information about cookies and other similar technologies that may be used in connection with your use of and interaction with the Website, please review the “Cookies and Other Similar Technologies” section below.

Note that if you send or direct a message to an individual on the Website or voluntarily post or upload information on certain, public-facing sections of the Website that are accessible to other visitors/users, those individuals will be able to access, read, and/or use such information, and we generally have no control over how they use such information. Please keep this in mind when sharing any information (especially “special” or “sensitive” personal information) on the public-facing sections of the Website.

“Do Not Track” (“DNT”) is a preference that you can set in your web browser to let the websites that you visit know that you do not want them collecting information about you. Please be aware that we do not respond to DNT or similar signals on the Website at this time.

We use cookies and other digital technologies (collectively “Digital Technologies”) on the websites where you take surveys (collectively our “Site”) for the purposes described in this section. The technologies we use may include:

We and our third party service providers may use the information obtained through Digital Technologies for the uses described in the chart below.


Categories of Use Description More Information
Authentication To help us show you the right information and personalise your panel experience.
Security To enable and support our security features such as to help us detect malicious activity and combat fraudulent participation.
Functionality To improve your experience when using the Site. For example, these Digital Technologies can remember information such as your user name, language, or location preference. Remembering your choices helps the Site provide enhanced, more personal features.
Performance, Analytics and Research To enable our analytics and research services, including when you are exposed to our services on other websites, applications, or devices. Nielsen Digital Measurement Privacy Notice

To learn more about the use of cookies in general, please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/, located outside the Site.

Information obtained from other sources

We may collect or obtain additional data about you and/or your household from various sources. The data that we obtain from other sources will include details about your content viewing activity. We may also collect demographic data, behavioural data, and/or preference data relating to you and/or your household. The sources of this data may include, for example:

We may combine information that we collect (as described above) with information from these other sources. We will use the information only for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice. By participating in the Panel, you acknowledge that we may obtain information about you from sources such as those listed above and combine it with other information that we hold about you.

Information we do NOT collect

We do not request or collect “private information,” which for purposes of this Privacy Notice, refers to government-issued identification documents (e.g., your driver’s license), financial/bank account or credit card information, and account passwords.

Please note that in connection with your receipt of payments/incentives from us for your household’s participation in the Panel, we may request your Social Security Number, which is used only for tax purposes.

C. Information Use

Once your household has joined the Panel, we use the information that we collect or otherwise obtain in order to create a variety of research insights for our clients. These insights, in turn, help our clients make informed decisions on various topics, such as where and how to advertise their products and services to consumers. Among other things, our insights have helped our clients:

When we prepare reports and share insights with our clients, we use tools and methods that are designed to ensure that there is no reasonable possibility of identifying an individual panelist. For example, if you participate in a survey, we combine your responses with those of other survey respondents in order to produce reports with aggregated data from which you cannot be identified.

We also create reports based upon “modeled information” (data that we have developed based upon demographic information and details about consumer behavior, such as gender, age, and relevant habits, in order to predict what types of content or products/services would be of interest to people with similar or matching characteristics). This allows advertisers, for instance, to identify the likely audience for a marketing campaign.

We may also use the information that you provide in order to contact you. When we contact you – by phone, email, text message, or postal mail, depending on what contact information you have provided to us – we will usually do so in order to:

By providing us with your information and participating in the Panel, you agree that we may contact you for the purposes described above. You also agree that we may call you, and for efficiency and accuracy, use an automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded voice messages to do so.

Where applicable, and with your consent, we may also send “push” notifications to your mobile device through our software while it is installed on your device. At any time, you can manage your push notification preferences or disable these notifications through the settings on your device. Please note, however, that disabling notifications may impact your household’s participation in the Panel.

In addition to using your information for the purposes described above, we may use your information in order to:

If we combine de–identified or anonymized (i.e., non–personal) information with identifying information, we will treat the combined information as personal information for as long as it is combined.

Please note that because we are continually adapting our services to evolving consumer and media consumption patterns, we may use your information in ways that we have not developed yet, consistent with the purposes described in this Privacy Notice. However, we will not make material changes to our practices unless we have provided you with additional information and obtained your permission.

D. Information Sharing

In connection with one or more of the purposes outlined above, we may share your information with:

In addition to the categories of parties described above, we may also share your information with other parties that are disclosed to you at the point of collection, such as in a notice delivered to you prior to your participation in a specific survey or study. Sharing excludes text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

We do not and will not sell your personal information to third parties for their own commercial use.

E. Your Choices And Rights

Participation in the Panel is always voluntary. If your household would like to end its participation in the Panel, please contact us at 1-800-237-6493.

You have choices as well as several rights regarding our processing of your data, and we are committed to providing you with reasonable access to it and the ability to review and limit the use of such information in accordance with applicable law.

Depending on your country (or U.S. state) of residence, you may have the right to:

If you are interested in exercising one or more of the rights described above, you may submit a request using the form nielsn.co/personal-info-request or contact us at . Please note that we may require proof of your identity before we can give effect to these rights.

Non-discrimination

We will not discriminate against you if you decide to exercise your rights under applicable law.

Identity verification when submitting your request

Because we want to avoid taking action regarding your personal data at the direction of someone other than you, only you or an "Authorized Agent" permitted to act on your behalf may submit a request. An "Authorized Agent" means a natural person or a business entity you have authorized to act on your behalf by providing your written permission. Please note, we may deny a request from an Authorized Agent if they do not submit proof that they have been authorized by you to act on your behalf.

Your request must:

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal data if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal data we maintain relates to you. To verify your identity, we will seek to match any personal data you provide when you (or an Authorized Agent) submit your request to any personal data we already maintain. If we are unable to verify your identity based on the information we maintain, we will let you know.

If we refuse to take action on your request, you may have the right to appeal that decision depending on your state of residence. You may make such an appeal by submitting the required information here.

F. Children’s Privacy

For our research, we collect information about every member of the households participating in the Panel, including any children in the household.

When we collect certain information online (e.g., information associated with streaming videos) directly from very young children (under the age of 13), the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) applies, and we take special care.

In compliance with COPPA, we obtain verifiable parental consent prior to the collection of personal information online from a child in the household, and we enable parents and guardians to withdraw their consent and request that we delete from our records the personal information that we have collected relating to their child at any time. Please review the for additional information.

Please also note that the Website is not designed for or intentionally targeted at children under the age of 18, and we do not intend to collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18 via the Website. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 18, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

G. Cookies And Other Similar Technologies

Cookies are small files that store certain data on a device. We (or third parties that we engage) may use cookies and other similar technologies (e.g., pixel tags, web beacons, etc.) on certain pages of the Website in order to enable certain features and functionality and collect additional information that helps us improve the Website and our services. In particular, we (or third parties that engage) may use cookies (both session and persistent cookies) on certain pages of the Website and in HTML-formatted email messages delivered to you in order to, among other things, identify your browser or device, display information more effectively, help facilitate navigation of the Website, serve you with more tailored content, and gather statistical information about the usage of the Website. We (or third parties that we engage) may also use cookies for security purposes and to detect and defend against fraud and other risks in order to protect the Website’s visitors.

On occasion, we may also use cookies to understand your exposure to certain online advertisements as you browse the Internet.

If you do not wish to have information collected from your device via cookies, most browsers allow you to control and decline the use of cookies through the browser settings. Please note, however, that if you decline the use of cookies or limit the ability of websites (including the Website) to set cookies, some features may not work properly.

By participating in the Panel, you consent to our use of cookies and other similar technologies as described above. We ask that you do not request an opt-out cookie or set your browser to reject Nielsen’s cookies.

To learn more about cookies, please visit .

H. Third-party Websites

This Privacy Notice does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information handling, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website to which the Website links. The inclusion of a link on the Website does not imply endorsement of the linked website by us or by our affiliates. We recommend that you review the privacy notice of each website that you visit.

I. Information Security and Transfers

Nielsen maintains a global data security organization that uses reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect your data while under our control.We may store and process your data in your home country and/or we may transfer and export these data to any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers and processors, including the Europe Union and India. The data protection laws of other countries may differ from those in your home country. When we transfer data, we ensure that we do so in compliance with the applicable data protection legislation.

J. Information Retention

We will retain your information in a form that permits identification only for as long as needed for the fulfillment of the purposes described in this Privacy Notice, unless applicable law or professional obligations require us to retain the information for a longer period of time.

K. Updates To This Privacy Notice

We may make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time in light of, for example, changing business and information-handling practices, technology, or legal requirements. Please take a look at the “Effective Date” at the beginning of this Privacy Notice to see when it was last revised.

If your household is participating in the Panel and there are plans to make a material change to the way that we use your information (for example, a change to the way we use your information that might make you reconsider participating in the Panel), we will provide you and your household with notice and a copy of a revised version of this Privacy Notice at least 30 calendar days prior to the implementation of the change(s), thereby giving you and your household time to leave the Panel. Your household’s continued participation in the Panel after the effective date of any changes to this Privacy Notice will constitute your acceptance of all of the changes.

L. Contact Us

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this Privacy Notice or our information-handling practices, please send an email to or write us at:

Attn: Legal Dept.
The Nielsen Company
675 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10010

If you have any general panel-related questions or concerns, please call us toll free at 1-800-237-6493 or write us at:

The Nielsen Company
501 Brooker Creek Blvd.
Oldsmar, FL 34677

This Privacy Notice replaces any other statement, whether written or oral, made to you about our practices with respect to the collection and use of personal information as part of your participation in the Panel.

THANK YOU – WE APPRECIATE AND VALUE YOUR PARTICIPATION!

Nielsen is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, and related assets. The company has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, NY. For more information, please visit www.nielsen.com.


Third Party Data

As additionally described in the Nielsen Panel Privacy Notice, we may work with other companies, such as Facebook, Google, and Roku, as well as those listed , to obtain information about videos, advertisements, and other content that you viewed and/or were exposed to on their sites and platforms (“Third Parties”). This Third Party Consent is a part of the Nielsen Panel Privacy Notice.

In order to obtain such information from Third Parties, we may send each company certain data that identifies you (such as your name or email addresses) or your mobile device(s) (such as a device advertising identifier). You agree that Third Parties may (i) receive the personal information from Nielsen; (ii) associate this information across the different accounts you may have with such Third Party; and (iii) share information with Nielsen about the videos that have been watched and advertisements and other content that you viewed on their sites and platforms. Nielsen may join and store the information received by Nielsen from such Third Parties with your personal information as described in the Nielsen Panel Privacy Notice; and will only use information received from Third Parties for market research purposes in accordance with the Nielsen Panel Privacy Notice. Third Parties will not be allowed to advertise, promote, or market goods or services directly to you as a result of your participation in this panel and must keep the information shared by Nielsen confidential.

Except as otherwise provided in this Third Party Consent, Third Parties will collect and process data in accordance with their privacy policies.

You may opt out of this Third Party data sharing at any time by clicking . You will not be removed from the Panel if you choose not to permit Third Party data sharing.