Why nielsen ratings are inaccurate

Now, it just needs to follow through on the rhetoric by stripping the company of its accreditation so the media industry can move on, free of new errors and distractions. The fate of the modern-day media equity movement is counting on it. Sign In Subscribe Ad-Free. By Brian Maloney. Related Topics: Brian Maloney , Nielsen , television. This, more than anything else, explains why viewers feel uneasy about ratings. But in this new media environment, do these numbers reflect accurately how many people are viewing this content?

The answer is no. On the other hand, are Nielsen ratings important and critical to the industry and as important to the industry as they even were? What Comes Next? Nielsen, networks and advertisers are all wrestling with the problem of media fragmentation, and nobody has charted a clear path forward yet. Nielsen, which is in the process of going public, has extensive plans for increasing its measurement on online activity, and is running a pilot program that uses existing set-top boxes for audience measurement.

But all of these companies are charged not just with figuring out how to measure audience, but also with predicting the very ways people will consume TV in the future.

Some point to digital set-top boxes as the future, with on-demand content and DVR usage eclipsing live broadcasts. For now, though, little is likely to change. Americans spend more time than ever before watching basic cable and broadcast programming, at an average of 34 hours per week — an hour less than that maximum legal work week in France. Networks are happy with this. Advertisers are happy with this. Viewers, apparently, are still happy with this.

I have read their own literature. They sample with ONLY 5, households. Anyway I agree with you. Liberal households dominate the sampling. With nearly every house in america now needs a digital converter.

I would be fine if they polled from my converter box at the end of each day. Take a million or a 5 million household sampling. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. This negatively impacted our MTV ratings and caused harm to our business, but Nielsen never figured out what actually happened.

Covid caused situations they had never planned for- if a panelist family relocated temporarily. It will be challenging to forecast because not only is the average rating hard to estimate, but the number of programming hours by quarter was skewed by the presidential election and sports pre-emptions.

In any event, this issue will not be resolved anytime soon. George W. This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here. More From Forbes. Nov 11, , pm EST. Nov 10, , am EST. Nov 9, , pm EST. Nov 9, , am EST. Nov 8, , pm EST. Nov 8, , am EST. Edit Story. How To Become A Translator.