Why Nielsen Ratings Are Inaccurate, and Why They'll Stay That Way

[dfergie]

by John Herrman

It's easy to understand why people are ambivalent, or even hostile, toward ratings. The thinking goes something like this: 1. People love the shows that they love, a lot
2. Some of these shows get canceled "too soon"
3. They get canceled, almost invariably, because of what some mean old bully named Nelson said. Nielsen. I mean Nielsen.

Source & More: splitsider.com

 

[dfergie]

Came across this link at tivo... interesting.

 

[Quincy123]

Nielsen's been calling us lately but I haven't picked up.

 

[jayn_j]

Nielson came courting us a number of years ago. They spent considerable time trying to determine if we were a representative 'average' family. Turns out we weren't because A - we subscribed to DISH at the time instead of cable and B - we owned a DVR.

It seems to me that if Nielson spends so much time getting "average" and "typical" families, then they are actually skewing their own results in favor of a particular viewing model that may not be representative.

This shows up when certain shows that are heavily DVRed end up with lower than expected ratings. These tend to be shows that appeal to the tech savvy crowd, such as SciFi material.

 

[mdram]

honestly with al lthe tech out there, they can just throw a chip in any unit for cable/sat ect and keep track of whats being watched.

i think the weather channel would be the most watched channel then, i know too many peopl ethat turn it on and leave it when they go out

 

[Derwin0]

Nielson came courting us a number of years ago. They spent considerable time trying to determine if we were a representative 'average' family. Turns out we weren't because A - we subscribed to DISH at the time instead of cable and B - we owned a DVR.

It seems to me that if Nielson spends so much time getting "average" and "typical" families, then they are actually skewing their own results in favor of a particular viewing model that may not be representative.

Nielson could care less about DVR viewers. They care about what is being watched live.
Why live? Because things watched live tend to have their commercials watched. Commercial viewership drives ad ratings and thus revenue for the shows.

Now if ads could be forced on DVR's (ala Hulu) then it might be different, but as it is, no one watches commercials on a DVR'd show, thus the station derives no revenue from it.

 

[TNGTony]

BINGO! Ratings aren't about what programs are being watched. Ratings are about what COMMERCIALS are likely being watched. A DVRed event is very unlikely to have their commercials watched. And even if the commercials are watched, they are not being watched when the advertiser wants the commercial being watched. What good is it if you watch a program containing a commercial for a Valentines Day special on Feb 15?

See ya
Tony

 

[jayn_j]

Still, TWC goes to great lengths to cripple their DVRs so that the fastest you can zoom through is 3x, just like VCR time-shifting. I guess we have had these arguments before, but I occasionally see ads that take advantage and flash the product at you when you FF at that speed. In addition, the first few and last dozen seconds of a commercial break are golden because even the skippers are fooling around there and thus actually paying attention. Finally, sure have been noticing the USA network shows lately where they go off to rescue the guy in their TOYOTA SUV and make note of how easy it is with the satnav and the fluid coupled differentials (or whatever).

Advertisers and content providers need to keep up with technology instead of trying to pretend it doesn't exist. If they don't the only product they will be able to effectively sell is Geritol.