So I read late last night that pretty much every TV show this summer has crashed and burned. You can attribute that any number of things. One, it’s summer and no one watches TV then. Two, the shows were absolutely terrible. Three, maybe people were watching, but the proliferation of the likes of Hulu have totally messed with Hollywood’s ability to actually count how many people watch its shows.
My belief is that the shows stunk on ice, but then you look at the actual hits (“More to Love” and “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” did well) and you half-wish a meteor would smash into the planet, so disappointed you are with your fellow citizens. By that third issue, how to accurately count how many people actually watch TV, is what concerns us right now.
Several big media companies, including Time Warner, NBC Universal, and News Corp, have formed a consortium to better figure out how to measure ratings. Nielsen, which has been in charge of figuring out media ratings since the dawn of man—I filled out a radio ratings book for the company last winter—,isn’t doing a good enough job, apparently. So, with advertisers freaking out, the media companies have stepped in.
The idea isn’t to outright replace Nielsen, but to figure out how to better count today’s viewers. People still watch TV live, sure, but then there’s time-shifted viewings (DVR), Internet sites (like Hulu), and Lord knows what else. The days of polling an 18,000-strong sample size to determine what America watches and doesn’t watch appears to be over. That’s what the big media companies would say.
Nielsen does have some sort of “panel” that also asks people to keep track of their online views, too, but it won’t be fully operational till 2011.
I don’t know, maybe now’s the time to pitch my idea of a TV sitcom about a rogue New York City subway river that stop wherever he damn well pleases.
Oh Nicholas, you are your silly swine flu.
I guess Nielsen families aren’t cutting it anymore am I right?
BTW who were the Nielsen famliies, I mean I’ve never met anyone who’s actually had that privilege. Makes no sense ..whoever they are, they hate all the good shows (which is why they get cancelled) and seem to love the literal lowest or worst shows.
I humbly submit that the reason shows like “I’m a Celebrity” and “American Idol” do so well is in the Nielsens is, well, the viewers are stupid.
The younger generation, and even viewers like myself in our 20’s, have figured out how to watch television on our own time. We use Hulu, Bit Torrents, DVR, Tivo, whatever our preference is, to watch when its convenient for us. Because really, television is a convenient way to zone out, and for most of us, other things in our lives take priority. We’re still interested, but we’re not on our hands and knees waiting for the next mind numbingly pointless celebrity to be crowned.
I think a lot of us are watching shows like “Sunny in Philadelphia”, and uh, whatever else is on tv today (I have no idea…Mythbusters? Heroes?), but we’re doing it in a way that isn’t measured by Nielsen. We’re also the most valuable viewers because we buy everything. The people who haven’t figured out how to watch on their own time are the ones watching American Idol.
So that garbage gets propped up, they order more of it, and we continue to tune out of the recycled garbage being spewed at us each year and focus in on the one or two good shows that come out. But then we watch on our time, the ratings plummet, and those shows get canceled.
Shouldn’t have used “stupid”…”less tech oriented” would have been a better choice of words. Meant to swap that out before posting.
No, stupid was the correct term.
Awesome.
I don’t understand why cable providers don’t offer the option to “opt-in” to anonymous data collection from set top boxes. I’d be fine with it.
I’ve often wondered that too. I would happily opt-in. If I’m watching, it means I’m interested and want the show to do well. I would love for that to count for something.
do the ratings still count if you record the show and watch it later? I’d assume so, right?
No, I don’t believe so. There are separate metrics for DVR usage that are being developed and used. My understanding is they’re still working on how to measure all this, but maybe by now they’ve figured it out.
I know much of the reason the television show “Dollhouse” was renewed was due to the DVR ratings it received. I guess the people watching had better things to do on a Friday night, but were still interested enough to record and watch on their own time. Fox took a chance and decided to run with those numbers and renew the show, despite the poor Nielsen ratings. How the show performs in its second season could be a bellwether for things to come.
yes- they have separate metrics for DVR counting- if you watch it within 24 hours or within 7 days. they call it “live+7″. after 7 days it’s as if you never watched the show in their mind. also if you pause the show it’s no longer a “live” viewing even if you catch up to it live by the end of the show.
I haven’t watched a program in real time in years, it feels like. I don’t see why this should be a problem, like Jmartens said, Tivo’s and other DVRs should be able to report usage information (with an opt-out option, of course). Then your only issue is tracking the population segment which is not tech-savvy, and therefore would not usually have DVRs…hello Nielson.
Do you really need a consortium to figure this out? Maybe we techcrunch readers are just sooper smart.
Hulu is a good example of giving people the option to watch what they want, when they want to. All I know is no one ever asked me what I like to watch.
I participated in the Nielsen research earlier this year. It was so low tech. Basically I filled in the booklet everyday for 1 week. When I decided to participate, I thought I would get some kind of machine or box to attach to my TV. But no, it was handwritten journal.
Excellent article and comments
I would ‘opt in’ also if some one asked
My family uses DVR’s for MOST TV veiwing
Advertisers should be worried.
DVR lets me skip commercials.
Online shows one commercial at the beginning and most of the time, you can skip it after 5 or 10 seconds.
Many times, I just by the DVD set (a used version at half-price books or amazon) for $10 and have no commercials at all.