Nielsen to track mobile media traffic

More than 33 million people have used mobile phones to access the Internet this year, according to Nielsen Media Research, which announced a new effort to measure such use Wednesday.

With Nielsen known primarily for its ratings service for television viewing, the announcement is another indication of how it is trying to keep up with changing entertainment options.

At first, Nielsen is offering information culled from interviews of the 30,000 people in its TV sample. Besides those who have used their phones for Internet access, Nielsen estimated that 8 million people viewed video on their phones in the first quarter.

One-fourth of all people ages 18 to 34 use their phones to access the Internet, Nielsen said. The mobile video audience skews older and male: Nearly half (46%) are age 35 and up, and 54% are men, Nielsen said.

Nielsen cannot yet measure which videos are hottest among cellphone users, but said it was developing technology to do so.