Thursday, March 8, 2012

Keep or Not To Keep, TV Shows?


Helpful Links which point out The Nielsen Company, The show Free Agents, and the rating system.


TV Stations use Nielsen Ratings to find out how a show is doing.  The number of viewers is a helpful tool in finding what rating each show receive.  The Nielsen Company creates surveys for people to fill out online and they have transmitters in DVR’s which record what the viewer watches and transmits the findings back to the company.  With this data they can find out how many people watch a certain show, and what they watch after, before, and during the commercial breaks.  This information also allows TV stations to include similar commercials with the shows people are watching.  An example of this rating system affecting shows is with the new show Free Agents.  This show aired about 6 or 7 episodes, but due to their low ratings and people tuning into the show; the show was canceled.

What do you think of the fact that The Nielsen Company have transmitters in your DVR’s to allow them to record and map the shows you watch?
Do you believe that people should have more control on whether a show should be kept or canceled, maybe talking to real people about their favorite shows, instead of finding what they watch through transmitters in their TV or DVR’s?

1 comment:

  1. I am going to assume that Nielsen gets permission to track a household's tv watching. That firm has been around a long time, and has a good reputation.
    The question is whether it works... A lot of people leave their TVs on all day for the dog or cat. Hmm

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