| |
What are the top ten shows on television
this week? How do you know?
The company that provides us with the data on the most watched television
programs is Nielsen Media Research. The company was founded in 1923
by Arthur C. Nielsen, Sr., when radio was becoming popular. Nielsen
has been the official national measurement service of the television
industry for over 40 years.
But why would someone want to measure what people are watching on
television? Television programmers need to know how many people
are watching their programs, because the more people who are watching,
the more money programmers can charge for commercials during the
show. If the show has fewer viewers, advertisers will be less willing
to buy commercial time during the program, and the program will
likely go off the air.
How does Nielsen measure who is watching what in the more than 99
million households that have televisions? The way that Nielsen Media
Research finds out this information is by measuring what a sample
of television viewers are watching. For national ratings estimates,
Nielsen uses a sample of more than 5,000 households. This sample
audience is compiled through a scientifically drawn, random selection
process to be representative of all viewers.
Nationally, there are 5,000 television households in which electronic
meters (called People Meters) are attached to every TV set, VCR,
cable converter box, satellite dish, or other video equipment. The
meters continually record all channels to which the video items
are tuned. Each Nielsen sample family member is asked to let Nielsen
know when he or she is watching by pressing a button on the People
Meter. By matching this button activity to information collected
at the time the meters are installed, Nielsen can match what is
being watched with who is watching. All this data is transmitted
to Nielsen Media Research's computers, where it is processed and
released to customers each day.
Suppose that out of the entire sample of 5,000 households that have
a television, 1,000 watched a particular nightly news program. Since
1,000 out of 5,000 watched the program, one-fifth, or 20%, of the entire
group of potential viewers watched the program. This number is called
the rating.
So the next time your favorite show
makes the top ten, you'll know that its Nielsen ratings were part
of that equation!
|
