Watch it online.
Very interesting article.
I've known for years that Nielsen's numbers were completely fucked. That's not a guess, that's knowledge. They've done tests before in markets where they were able to accurately gauge actual viewing versus what gets recorded in ratings books and the numbers weren't even close.
I wonder how many good shows actually had a big audience, but weren't watched by the clowns with the books, and thus, got canceled?
They've proven that people with the ratings books often write down shows they didn't watch. Sometimes they do it out of habit, sometimes they do it out of shame (I don't want people to know I watched porn), sometimes they do it because they would have watched a show if they were home, etc.
Yet this is the system that decides the fate of all shows on TV and how much advertising is worth during them. How fucked up is that?
How to save your favorite show
I did the book once. I lied my ass off. I had to, at the time they didn't consider any time shifting to be legitimate, if you didn't watch it live it didn't count at all. I would have turned in a completely empty book if I hadn't lied, and I watched a good 60+ hours of TV that week.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
When I worked in TV everyone there from the sales people to the news folks to management all knew that the Nielsens were bullshit. It's an accepted part of the industry.
All TV stations are essentially hostages of the Nielsens. They set their advertising rates by the Nielsen ratings. If they decided to break away and fight the Nielsen system, they wouldn't be able to justify their advertising rates. That means no advertising sold, and thus, no revenue.
I remember a long conversation about how the Nielsen folks were very pissed about cable boxes and such because they can see the writing on the wall that they're going to be obsolete.
Think about it, most homes in America now have a box from either the cable company or a satellite company. Those boxes can track everything you watch every second. If they're measuring the majority of homes and that data can be accessed and shared, who needs Nielsen?
All TV stations are essentially hostages of the Nielsens. They set their advertising rates by the Nielsen ratings. If they decided to break away and fight the Nielsen system, they wouldn't be able to justify their advertising rates. That means no advertising sold, and thus, no revenue.
I remember a long conversation about how the Nielsen folks were very pissed about cable boxes and such because they can see the writing on the wall that they're going to be obsolete.
Think about it, most homes in America now have a box from either the cable company or a satellite company. Those boxes can track everything you watch every second. If they're measuring the majority of homes and that data can be accessed and shared, who needs Nielsen?
“Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.” - Dr Thomas Sowell
As if they'll ever do something that smart. No, the networks will just keep becoming more and more worthless until everyone has turned to Hulu and Pirate Bay. And then they'll whine about how unfair it is that they're out of business, when they did it to themselves.
I find myself very pissy today for some reason. Between the television networks, Homeland Security, and the War on Drugs, I think I've exceeded my daily dose of stupid way too early this morning.
I find myself very pissy today for some reason. Between the television networks, Homeland Security, and the War on Drugs, I think I've exceeded my daily dose of stupid way too early this morning.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
It occured to me, thinking about the Time Warner/tiered service thread, that it might be the very lack of ala carte channels that have made hulu, amazon.com downloads, etc successful at all. If people only want to see 1 or 3 shows, why pay for an entire television package? Big savings just downloading what they want and bypassing the cable tv all together.
"Just downloading what they want and bypassing the cable TV."
So yes, it is the television industry's, and the big companies delivering it to our homes's, lack of vision that is going to put it under.... unless they can legislate ala carte viewing out of existence, or be allowed, under their local monopolies, to triple the cost of internet access and make hulu, amazon dl's, etc more expensive.
"Just downloading what they want and bypassing the cable TV."
So yes, it is the television industry's, and the big companies delivering it to our homes's, lack of vision that is going to put it under.... unless they can legislate ala carte viewing out of existence, or be allowed, under their local monopolies, to triple the cost of internet access and make hulu, amazon dl's, etc more expensive.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
As if they'll ever do something that smart. No, the networks will just keep becoming more and more worthless until everyone has turned to Hulu and Pirate Bay. And then they'll whine about how unfair it is that they're out of business, when they did it to themselves.
It's not really just the big networks, although they're easily being hit the worst. It's all of TV, which includes the networks and every other channel cable, PPV, etc.
And how can they go out of business? Isn't it the job of the U.S. government to now save everyone from going out of business?
“Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.” - Dr Thomas Sowell