Comments on: Television Ratings Makes No Sense http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/ Bridging the Gap Between Marketers and the Market Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:41:59 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Cord Silverstein http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/comment-page-1/#comment-7992 Cord Silverstein Thu, 03 May 2007 20:58:38 +0000 http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/#comment-7992 David - The reason we need ratings is not for you the viewers, but for the networks to price their ad rates for the advertisers. You and I as viewers could not care less for viewers. Hillel - I agree there must be technology out there to track down to the minute, but the only way that the networks and ad buyers will want to do this is if the advertisers themselves force them. I don't see that happening anytime soon. Thanks for the comments. David – The reason we need ratings is not for you the viewers, but for the networks to price their ad rates for the advertisers. You and I as viewers could not care less for viewers.

Hillel – I agree there must be technology out there to track down to the minute, but the only way that the networks and ad buyers will want to do this is if the advertisers themselves force them. I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Thanks for the comments.

]]> By: Hillel http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/comment-page-1/#comment-7983 Hillel Thu, 03 May 2007 19:02:15 +0000 http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/#comment-7983 There is technology now (and has been for some time) that will allow a much finer grain and likely closer to accurate accounting of what TV is being watched, and by whom. It's not hard to instrument a television set to not only track what's being watched, but also sense if anyone is in front of the set during the commercials. It's probably not too much of a stretch to determine which family members are in front of the set too. Why doesn't this happen? My guess is that likely the answers would be so radically different from what Nielsen (and the networks) have been telling advertisers for so many years that there would be huge discontinuity in the industry that would threaten Nielsen's core business. I could be wrong, but my understanding is that Nielsen still requires panel members to fill out logs indicating what they watched. Tivo is reporting numbers which are instrumentation-based so that's helping. This could be BS, but I had heard a while back that there was technology that they could use on highways to determine what over the air radio station someone was listening too as the sped by. I had also heard that the numbers for some of the more risque/shock-jock type shows were much higher than were being reported in the regular ratings books. The theory was that people were embarassed that they were listening to certain shows and fudging their reporting a little bit to make themselves look better. There is technology now (and has been for some time) that will allow a much finer grain and likely closer to accurate accounting of what TV is being watched, and by whom. It’s not hard to instrument a television set to not only track what’s being watched, but also sense if anyone is in front of the set during the commercials. It’s probably not too much of a stretch to determine which family members are in front of the set too.

Why doesn’t this happen? My guess is that likely the answers would be so radically different from what Nielsen (and the networks) have been telling advertisers for so many years that there would be huge discontinuity in the industry that would threaten Nielsen’s core business.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that Nielsen still requires panel members to fill out logs indicating what they watched.

Tivo is reporting numbers which are instrumentation-based so that’s helping.

This could be BS, but I had heard a while back that there was technology that they could use on highways to determine what over the air radio station someone was listening too as the sped by. I had also heard that the numbers for some of the more risque/shock-jock type shows were much higher than were being reported in the regular ratings books. The theory was that people were embarassed that they were listening to certain shows and fudging their reporting a little bit to make themselves look better.

]]> By: Adam Schultz http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/comment-page-1/#comment-7845 Adam Schultz Wed, 02 May 2007 18:40:00 +0000 http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/#comment-7845 You nailed it buddy. Nuff Said. You nailed it buddy. Nuff Said.

]]> By: Cabernet Logic http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/comment-page-1/#comment-7829 Cabernet Logic Wed, 02 May 2007 15:20:17 +0000 http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/#comment-7829 <strong>Ratings, Sweeps and Inflated Numbers...</strong> Cord over at Marketing Hipster tackled one of the mysteries of TV advertising today in his blog. He notes, The networks are saying to advertisers that the Thursday night 9-10 pm time slot gets on average of 2 million viewers,... Ratings, Sweeps and Inflated Numbers…

Cord over at Marketing Hipster tackled one of the mysteries of TV advertising today in his blog. He notes, The networks are saying to advertisers that the Thursday night 9-10 pm time slot gets on average of 2 million viewers,…

]]> By: david barbara http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/comment-page-1/#comment-7818 david barbara Wed, 02 May 2007 13:10:45 +0000 http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/#comment-7818 Who needs rankings because my experience is when I start watching a new show it tanks within 3-4 weeks. Since I have these powers of making sure the world does not have to waste time on engaging in a new show the networks should pay me to watch new shows so I can be the only ranking system needed. This is why I watch only re-runs of shows ie; Law and Order, CSI, Seinfeld etc.. If I watched these shows when they first came on history shows they would never had made it. Who needs rankings because my experience is when I start watching a new show it tanks within 3-4 weeks. Since I have these powers of making sure the world does not have to waste time on engaging in a new show the networks should pay me to watch new shows so I can be the only ranking system needed. This is why I watch only re-runs of shows ie; Law and Order, CSI, Seinfeld etc.. If I watched these shows when they first came on history shows they would never had made it.

]]> By: Cord Silverstein http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/comment-page-1/#comment-7814 Cord Silverstein Wed, 02 May 2007 12:27:20 +0000 http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/#comment-7814 Mark - I don't think you are rambling at all. In fact, I could not agree with what you are saying more. I guess my question is why do advertisers put up with this? Mark – I don’t think you are rambling at all. In fact, I could not agree with what you are saying more. I guess my question is why do advertisers put up with this?

]]> By: Mark Laymon http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/comment-page-1/#comment-7776 Mark Laymon Wed, 02 May 2007 06:04:05 +0000 http://www.marketinghipster.com/2007/05/02/television-ratings-makes-no-sense/#comment-7776 Unfortunately this is the way it has been for some time, and I do not see it changing. This is a point to make about the mass media being totally out of step with what the world is doing today. But then... We talk about web 2.0 but is there really a change in how the world is moving? Look at how the Internet has effected your life. Now look at how it has effected your parents life. Then look at how it is going to effect our future society. Our children are already learning more from smaller niches in the media than we did. (video games, internet) How would you monetize your blog if it was only from page views? Will TV eventually move to a pay per action for advertising? Will the structure of TV be the same 5 years from now? Will the major player in TV catch up? Again this is the way it has been for some time, and I do not see it changing, since so many large corporations do not know what one department is doing from the next. So expect every year your favorite show will be on hiatus this time of year! Or maybe I am just rambling to myself... but May sweeps SUCK and are out dated in todays world. Unfortunately this is the way it has been for some time, and I do not see it changing. This is a point to make about the mass media being totally out of step with what the world is doing today. But then…

We talk about web 2.0 but is there really a change in how the world is moving? Look at how the Internet has effected your life. Now look at how it has effected your parents life. Then look at how it is going to effect our future society. Our children are already learning more from smaller niches in the media than we did. (video games, internet)

How would you monetize your blog if it was only from page views? Will TV eventually move to a pay per action for advertising? Will the structure of TV be the same 5 years from now? Will the major player in TV catch up? Again this is the way it has been for some time, and I do not see it changing, since so many large corporations do not know what one department is doing from the next.

So expect every year your favorite show will be on hiatus this time of year!

Or maybe I am just rambling to myself… but May sweeps SUCK and are out dated in todays world.

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