Given that my TV obsession extends into the business aspect of the industry, I’m going to start covering ratings news as well. Ever since I was a little boy, and my dad bought me my first Variety magazine (yes, I told you I was strange), I was fascinated with the ratings game. I follow ratings on a daily basis like a sports junkie follows sports statistics.
If you’re not quite sure how TV ratings work, here’s a crash course in Nielsen 101:
Nielsen ratings are essentially a percentage of viewers watching a particular show at any given time. Ratings are displayed with two sets of numbers (xx/yy). The xx number is the rating, or percentage of households tuned into a show measured against all households in the country. The yy number is the share, or percentage of households watching a show measured only against those TV sets that are on at that time. So if a program gets an 8.0/12 rating that means 8% of all the households in America were watching, and 12% of the TVs on at that time were tuned in.
In today’s heavily fragmented world, demographics are just as important (if not more) as total viewer statistics. Adults aged 18-49, which advertisers pay the most money for, is the group networks want to be watching their shows. So, in addition to household ratings you will most likely see an 18-49 rating or, the percentage of adults 18-49 watching. Many shows with low household ratings will end up staying on the air thanks to strong 18-49 numbers.
It may sound complicated at first, but if a 12 year old me can pick it up, anyone can. So, starting Monday I’ll post brief little ratings updates. My info will come from these very reputable industry sites:
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