Good evening. And
welcome to our latest installment of ratings center.
Chip: I’m Chip Spalding, alongside Clay Rogers here to cover
the finer
points of TV ratings. What do you say, Clay?
Clay: Well, Chip.
It turns out our viewers have been tweeting up a storm. Everybody
wants to know how the ratings system works. Since
we’re here at a ratings center consider ourselves the
ratings experts, we feel it our humble obligation to give the people what
they want. First, to size our audience, we turn to
Nielsen. To estimate TV audiences, Nielsen starts by creating a
sample that accurately reflects the population. They employ a random sample
where all homes have an equal chance of being
selected. This ensures that the sample mirrors the population
according to gender, age, geography, race, cable status and other
characteristics.
Chip: So say 49% of the population is male, does that mean 49% of Nielsen’s
random sample is also male?
Clay: Well said, Chip, and all under 140 characters. Totes tweet worthy.
Ahaha…
A: Holy fast
ball, folks. I’ve just gotten a word that a Nielsen correspondent is
on her way to install a meter in an
actual household. Let’s go there live.
Nielsen correspondent: Thanks, Chip. I’m about to place a meter
that monitors usage on every TV, DVR, DVD and
game console in the home. Like a dog whistle that only
the meter can hear, audio codes embedded in TV content
identify the network, date and time stamp. The Nielson sample
consists of homes that agree to participate for up to two
years. The meters have remotes preprogrammed with each household’s member info.
They log in when they start watching TV and log out when they are done. That
data is then sent back to Nielson each night to be processed.
Clay: Wow, looks like networks and advertisers really know their
key audiences. You mention DVRs. How do those factor in, Chip?
Chip: Funny you should ask, Clay. I actually major in statistics.
Clay: Oh, really?
Chip: Yes, really. To get the most accurate ratings, you have to look at all
viewing behaviors, not only do you consider those who watch live,
but also live plus same day and live plus seven days. What are you
doing over there, Clay?
Clay: I’m tuning in so I can watch us live. I need to check
out my sexy stache on screen.
Chip: Oh, totally sexy. I always just set my
DVR to record us and study my Don
Johnson stare at night when I get home. That reminds me I need
to set my DVR to record Real Housewives of Bristol while I’m on
vaca for the rest of the week. That’s the first thing I’ll
watch when I get home at the end of the week.
Clay: So to
recap, boys and girls. Live viewing means you watched the
program as it was happening. Live-plus-same-day viewing means
you either watched it live or watched it from your DVR
within the same day. Live-plus-seven viewing means you either watched
it live or watched it from your DVR within 7 days when it
aired.
Chip: Thanks, Clay.