TV Rants thread (Show deaths, ratings, anger at networks etc.) - Blu-ray Forum

Groo The Perverted · 05-18-2011, 10:36 PM

So with so many of my favorite shows getting the axe this past year (Lie To Me, Chicago Code, Terriers, Human Target, The Event, just to name a few), it got me wondering. The suits always talk about "ratings" and the lack of them for specific shows. However, is that really something that we actually control?

They use, as far as I know, the Nielson system, which means ONLY those with Nielson boxes get counted for the ratings. And someone posted before, I think it was Wyldeman, that there are only like 25,000 boxes out there in the country? If so, that brings up a very serious situation here.

If say 2 million people are watching a show, and yet there are only 25,000 boxes out there, of which say 5,000 of them are watching that show, how is that a fair representation of a show's true audience?

When I saw it posted that there were that few boxes out there that just made my head spin. How can they just cancel and renew shows based on such a limited number? That's like a political poll interviewing fifty people and trying to make that indicative of what the country feels about a candidate. or political issue.

So at that end, does it REALLY matter what we watch, if we don't have a box? All these "watch show X this week and get the ratings up so the studios know that we are wanting the show to come back" are all for naught, are they not? Because no matter how many people are watching it, if they don't have a Nielson box, they are not being counted.

Or am I misreading the way this thing is done?

05-18-2011, 10:36 PM	#1
Groo The Perverted Blu-ray Champion Member since:Aug 2008 Blu-ray collection:109 DVD collection:8 Trading Score:272	Does it REALLY matter if we watch our favorite shows? (Ratings Wise) So with so many of my favorite shows getting the axe this past year (Lie To Me, Chicago Code, Terriers, Human Target, The Event, just to name a few), it got me wondering. The suits always talk about "ratings" and the lack of them for specific shows. However, is that really something that we actually control? They use, as far as I know, the Nielson system, which means ONLY those with Nielson boxes get counted for the ratings. And someone posted before, I think it was Wyldeman, that there are only like 25,000 boxes out there in the country? If so, that brings up a very serious situation here. If say 2 million people are watching a show, and yet there are only 25,000 boxes out there, of which say 5,000 of them are watching that show, how is that a fair representation of a show's true audience? When I saw it posted that there were that few boxes out there that just made my head spin. How can they just cancel and renew shows based on such a limited number? That's like a political poll interviewing fifty people and trying to make that indicative of what the country feels about a candidate. or political issue. So at that end, does it REALLY matter what we watch, if we don't have a box? All these "watch show X this week and get the ratings up so the studios know that we are wanting the show to come back" are all for naught, are they not? Because no matter how many people are watching it, if they don't have a Nielson box, they are not being counted. Or am I misreading the way this thing is done?

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