Nielsen Must Die

Check out this great/disturbing article titled Why Nielsen Ratings Are Inaccurate, and Why They’ll Stay That Way

Here’s a snippet:

NBC’s Alan Wurtzel underscored this discrepancy. “Ratings are a currency, so they’re just as important now as they were ten years ago. It’s how we get paid. But in this new media environment, do these numbers reflect accurately how many people are viewing this content? The answer is no.” As viewing habits become more fractured, and viewers become less bound to TV schedules, he says, the current ratings system’s focus on live and recently recorded TV will become a problem. “Are we happy with the way we’re following technology and being able to measure it? No. We’re way behind. On the other hand, are Nielsen ratings important and critical to the industry and as important to the industry as they even were? Absolutely, when you consider that if we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t get paid.”

Nielsen and NBC fail again - check out this paragraph from Community Stars Celebrate Their TV Guide Magazine Fan Favorites Victory

McHale — who responded to the win with a hearty “Holy crap!” — believes the show’s fan base doesn’t adhere to the usual notions of TV viewers. “Our fans don’t watch TV the way others do,” he says. “I did a stand-up show at the University of Arizona and there were 30 kids who ran the event. I said, ‘How many of you watch Community?’ and they all raised their hands, which was great. I asked, ‘How many watch it Thursdays at 8pm?’ Zero hands. I asked, ‘How many of you have TVs?’ Four hands. I asked, ‘How many of you watch on computers?’ All hands went up. That may be an excuse, but our audience skews young. But with something like this, they vote. That’s how rabid they are, so that’s great.”