Changes in habits and technology have made television viewership increasingly difficult to measure. 

Measuring television usage has become increasingly difficult in today’s fragmented media environment. Consumers have access to a vast array of TV stations, streaming services, and apps, and they engage with content across multiple platforms and devices. Viewing habits vary widely—not only from person to person, but also within households—where accounts are often shared among family members or friends. This complexity makes it challenging to accurately track who is watching what, when, and how.

Current measurement tools are not equipped to meet this challenge. Each provider only sees its own footprint, resulting in limited and siloed viewership data. Efforts to combine data from multiple sources are expensive and leave critical gaps. Without a coherent and reliable calibration standard, industry experts lack a comprehensive and accurate view of audience behavior. This disconnect hinders the ability of media, advertising, and research professionals to make informed decisions and adapt to evolving consumer trends.

NORC has partnered with ARF to develop the DASH survey to provide a comprehensive, reliable view of household media consumption.

To address the growing complexity of TV viewership, NORC partnered with the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) to develop the DASH survey—an innovative, industry-wide standard for understanding how U.S. households consume media.  

We developed a robust approach that captures detailed information on every television in the home—its brand, location, age, and connection type—as well as all service providers. The DASH survey also itemizes the ownership and usage of video-capable mobile devices and collects insights on both individual and co-viewing behaviors. This level of detail offers a nuanced understanding of how people engage with content across platforms, helping stakeholders move beyond fragmented data to gain a more complete understanding of the media landscape. 

DASH uses a rigorous, mixed-mode design that includes phone, web, and face-to-face interviews. The sample is drawn from NORC’s nationally representative, probability-based AmeriSpeak^® panel and is fielded twice per year to capture seasonal variation (with data combined into annual estimates). Each year, DASH conducts approximately 10,000 adult interviews, generating household- and individual-level insights. Now in its fifth year, DASH has become a trusted benchmark that supports strategic decision-making across the industry.