SHAME on you Nielsen TV Ratings for being so behind in the times. Television shows no longer run long enough for us to wear a soft spot into our favorite chairs. Everyone has tuned in at some point to find that one of their favorite shows was being canceled due to “low viewership”. Try to cancel a popular show and the petitions, boycotts and true grassroots movements begin. With the recent cancellation of ABC Soap Operas which have run for decades, people are once again getting fired up. These shows have become a tradition for many families but how we watch TV today is in no way traditional. The problem – your ratings system is flawed for the current world that we live in. Get it together.
According to the Nielsen Company website, viewing estimates “include Live viewing and DVR playback on the Same Day, defined as 3am-3am. Seriously? So…if my show is taped at 8pm and I watch it the next night at 9pm, I don’t count. If I tape my soaps and watch them on the weekend so I can still eat dinner with my family, I don’t count! Do TV executives or advertisers have any clue how Americans view their shows? If we tape it, we usually watch it. No one likes to waste valuable DVR space for a show that isn’t worth it. I can’t tell you how many weekends I have pulled all nighters getting caught up on Glee, All My Children or The Good Wife. There is a reason that most households have 1 or more TiVos or DVRs…all with hundreds of hours of taping time on them.
As life gets crazy, DVRs allow us to capture our shows and watch them when you can. Do you want me to have the show playing in the background and not paying attention? According to Nielsen and the networks, the answer is YES. However, there is an exception. There is one type of show that people tend to watch live….those with live results. Shocker…these are typically reality shows. Hence the reason they always score so high in ratings. People watch live because the results are on the internet within minutes.
In truth, live TV isn’t convenient for most people and that is why DVRs have become so popular. Rating companies must adapt so we don’t lose quality programming. If they really want to capture what the viewers are watching….ask TiVo and cable companies to share the weekly viewing patterns. You can’t get any more accurate that ACTUAL viewing time on programs. As for advertisers, when your ad is live, I am typically running to the bathroom, letting the dog out or grabbing a drink. BUT I pause my DVR during a recording when I step away and I see you ads. We expect more from rating companies, advertisers and networks….because as viewers we should count and the current ratings system tells us we don’t!