The Media Rating Council approves the company's use of traditional panel sampling alongside input from millions more homes.

One of Nielsen’s newest audience-measurement products has won accreditation from the Media Rating Council, setting up a new option for advertisers at a moment when the media-tabulation giant has beebn facing competition from a group of upstarts and rivals.

Nielsen has received accreditation for its Big Data + Panel national TV measurement from the Media Rating Council (MRC), certifying its ability to combine first-party viewership data with its panel. Why it matters: The certification better positions Nielsen to accurately capture viewership for TV networks and advertisers after the rise of media fragmentation and streaming challenged its traditional methods.