If you're like me, you have spent sleepless nights wondering how the television industry calculates how many people are watching each show. When I was young, and up until last Tuesday, I assumed that my cable service transmitted a signal that could detect WHEN I was watching, WHAT I was watching, what I was THINKING while I was watching, what I was EATING, and that it was my third piece.
Now I know better. After all, this is America, where unauthorized spying is not allowed. But I digress. Out of an estimated 113 million channel surfers, I was one of the chosen to keep a seven-day TV diary -- compliments of Nielsen Media Research, the same folks who, since 1950, have been watching us watch whatever the heck it is that we're watching. As a research participant, I wanted to give voice to the viewers who demand more stimulating content than The Apprentice Bachelorette Survivor gets voted out of Bloomingdale's, and who don't understand why there are four channels of Law & Order instead of eight.
With hundreds of TV stations, Nielsen has a whole lot of tracking to do. With food shows like Martha's Kitchen featuring guest star Emeril Lagasse, or Emeril Live featuring guest star Martha Stewart. And educational programs like Ocean Science discussing the mating habits of hermit crabs and other marine gastropods. And replays of Golden Girls that should never have aired the first time. And under-promoted movies like Psycho Beach Party III (Beach-girl Chicklet worries she may be a killer when her alter ego emerges at the sight of hermit crabs mating). And my favorite, the Do It Yourself channel, where guys, girls and toddlers in tool belts are tearing down walls and remodeling bathrooms like they're playing with LEGO's: "Just rip out the old shower, pry up the linoleum, and you're ready to install the executive home theater with 12-speed Jacuzzi and motorized mini-bar. Next we'll convert the doghouse into a high-rise office complex."
Born in 1897 in Winnetka, Illinois, marketing pioneer Arthur Charles Nielsen formulated the granddaddy of all rating systems and then waited patiently for someone to invent the television. The first Nielsen ratings were released 57 years ago, when the most watched program was Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. And thanks to Nielsen's documentation, we can see how far TV culture has come when in 2008 the most watched program for the fourth consecutive year was American Idol.
Whatever we watch, Nielsen wants to know about it, because viewer data = advertising gold. Show me ESPN, I'll show you ads for Bud Light, Gas-X, and fast cars. Show me a daytime soap, I'll show you ads for Jenny Craig, Sara Lee, and fast cars. Show me a snappy satire like South Park, I'll show you ads for Girls Gone Wild and Psycho Beach Party box set HD-DVD. And fast cars.
The diary is just one of Nielsen's survey methods. Another approach is cold-calling households during primetime to gather data about all the ways TV viewers can hang up on them. Another is the family-approved installation of a TV "set meter" that monitors their household viewing for two years, the electronic simulation of being stalked. And new research developments hold promise for reviewing the phone conversations of the general public about our TV habits, also known as The Patriot Act. But I digress. I have to complete my diary now. Let's see, how do you spell gastropods...?
Is it just to condition us to the fact that there is going to be a "prisoner class" in America and we could be one at any time?
Please watch just 30 minutes of anime ( Cowboy Bebop, Deathnote) - For me. We need all the help we can get.
The Nielsen system is broken, it discriminates against single people, and so there's piles of shows with huge targeted fanbases that could make a lot of money if they were tracked well.
It does not discriminate against anyone. The house holds chosen are done randomly. A single person is just as important to the ratings as any other demographic.
I just love how people who do not know what they are talking about love to say negative and destructive things.
If your house is chosen to be a 2 year panel member, you are treated like gold. Nielsen pays the House Holds between $350.00 to $600.00 for the two year period. They also cover 50% of all the HH's maintenance and repair or replacement costs during that time. They are given gifts as well. It is a privilege to be chosen as it gives the HH's an opportunity to influence what is being shown on TV. Like POKER? You are then helping TV POKER remain on TV. Hate reality? Don't watch it and help get rid of it.
I myself have recruited just as many single folks as married, just as many Afican American homes as White etc.
The only reason Nielsen is still the only source for TV ratings in America is because they've typically purchased the competition. Their Commercial Live Plus Three Days data (the currency on which the entire TV business depends) is not even accredited by the Media Research Council because the methodology is flawed.
Can't wait for the day when cable services are able to publicize second by second viewership data.
And BTW, $600 over a two period equates to $25 a month. Not much when you consider that, as a People Meter home, a bunch of guys come to your house, drill a bunch of holes in all your TV sets and make it so that if you don't log in every 15 minutes, your screen goes black. That's why so many households opt out after a short time - can't take the aggravation.