Nielsen Struggles To Track Modern Viewing Habits

RobotRunAmok writes "The Nielsen Company has been the principal entity tracking TV shows' popularity, and, by extension, their potential profitability. But as our media consumption practices change, some believe that Nielsen's methods have not kept pace. A new consortium including networks owned by NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp, Viacom, CBS, Discovery, and Walt Disney — along with major advertisers — is calling for the creation of a new audience measurement service, and planning to solicit bids from outside firms by the fourth quarter of this year. Nielsen says they're not worried about so many of their customers ganging up on them, having just invested more than a billion dollars in research to stay modern. Except that today Nielsen announced they would pointedly not be adding weights to DVR households, and that adding weights for the presence of a personal computer or Internet access in under-represented households would provide 'no significant change or enhancement' to its national TV ratings sample. The pundits deride Nielsen's 'archaic' methodology and 'disco-era tactics,' but others scoff that such a consortium will only 'put the foxes in charge of the henhouse.' Stay tuned..."

Missed opportunity

[mcgrew]

Stay tuned

Should have read "don't touch that dial!"

Damn kids, get off my lawn!

Re:Who is running Nielsen anyway, Leslie?

[Shakrai]

I'm an average person under 40. I watch TV, but I don't use a DVR. Most of my friends don't either. This is a big country. I don't think you can make generalizations based on your own demographic.

??? ;)

First questions on Neilsen Questionaire

[jameskojiro]

1. Do you like Science Fiction Stories? (Y/N)
(Note to test processor, if the answer to question 1 is Y then discard survey immediately)

2. Do you like Matlock and/or HeeHaw? (Y/N)
(Note to test processor, if the answer to question 2 is N then discard survey immediately)

Wow, you are a young one

[Anonymous Coward]

You've got plenty of bad attitude. The relevant part of the world has habits just like YOU, people over 40 are all like grandma, and the shows *you* like get artificially low ratings for some unexplained reason. What part of the country do you live in? I need to know what direction to turn when I bow down to worship.

Re:Wow, you are a young one

[elrous0]

You may worship in any direction you choose. I am omnipresent.