Nielsen glitch skews TV ratings

[crackedscreen]

Nielsen, the measurement service whose rankings form the basis of how advertisers pay for TV commercials, said a software bug had resulted in TV ratings being allocated incorrectly among broadcast and syndication programming since March.

“We started to credit that viewing to different programs,” said Patricia McDonough, Nielsen’s senior VP of planning policy and analysis, in a Friday conference call with reporters. “Some of that was done to the wrong source.”

Executives declined to specify which networks were affected most, though there is some speculation that ABC’s programming was apparently awarded more viewership than other outlets during the period. An ABC spokeswoman did not respond immediately to an emailed query.

The company expects to restate ratings going back to the start of the new TV season and will work with various clients regarding viewership measures that data back further, executives said.

https://variety.com/2014/tv/news/ni...culating-broadcast-syndie-ratings-1201326710/

 

[gregg75]

Makes a good case to use the other guys......which it seems many broadcasters are doing.

 

[frankberry]

What 'other guys' do TV ratings?

 

[crackedscreen]

What 'other guys' do TV ratings?

Rentrak.

 

[newsmark]

The downside to Rentrak is that it only measures data from set top boxes. Over-the-air viewers and basic cable (no-box) viewers are not counted.

Those are both big downsides for local TV stations. Since over-the-air viewers have fewer channel choices, they spend more time watching local TV stations than people who have dozens or hundreds of channels.

Rentrak also provides no demographic data, which advertisers generally want.