The Nielson TV rating system stinks. I’ve thought this for years. All anyone has to do is check out what is passing for entertainment on TV today: The Bachelor, Bridezilla, Wipeout, etc. Whenever there are good, thoughtful and entertaining shows…they die. Case in point…there was a show called “The Unusuals”. It was terrific. Funny, great characters, interesting plots…and it died after one season. Of course, I think part of the problem on this particular show was its title.
Finally, there was a recent column in the LA Times about this. Apparently there are 14 major media companies, advertisers and agencies that are teaming up in a effort to develop new methods to measure how people watch television. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-ratings11-2009sep11,0,1221042.story
I used to wonder who the heck Nielson was polling because it seemed like good shows disappeared and crap stayed on. Recently, I’ve thought they weren’t talking to those of us who watch TV via our DVR/TIVO. Besides, with something like 216 million people living in the US and they are polling only a few thousand…how accurate could they be? I know they use all sorts of mathematical gyrations to come up with their numbers, but I also know data can be manipulated any way you want it. Anyone whose taken a Marketing or Statistics class in college knows this.
Maybe it’s time to change the way this is done.
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