According to advertising and marketing news site AdvertisingAge, the company has measured loyalty of viewers to networks and shows in the past, but has until now lacked a way to standardise the metrics across networks.

But following completion of a study commissioned by US channel Bravo, to measure the loyalty of its audience and assess how it ranks against other cable networks, Nielsen is set to introduce the standardised measurement.

Jerome Samson, VP research, Nielsen, said: “This allows us to characterise networks and programmes based on the quality of the audience, not just quantity.

“Just because there’s a lot of people watching it doesn’t mean there’s a lot of loyalty.”

The results from the Bravo study suggested that loyal viewers tend to consume more, and that advertising on “high loyal” networks can generate a greater lift in sales.