Seen in the New York Times:
For decades, Nielsen Media Research has affixed the same value to every college student watching television while away at school: zero. As a result, industry executives have complained for years that shows appealing to a younger audience have been underrated.
But, starting today, college students count.[...]
The college ratings are the first of two major changes in the way viewing habits are rated. In May, Nielsen will start releasing figures on the number of people who actually watch commercials, separating them from viewers who walk away or switch channels when the ads come on.
It’s about d*mn time. Nielsen has been slow to adapt to changes in media; I lost a lot of respect for their ratings when they rescinded an invitation for my wife and I to become a Nielsen family a few years ago, because they couldn’t handle the TV setup we had then.
True, having a customized video distribution system, to permit two digital cable boxes, a tivo, and a DVD player to drive three TV’s was a bit complicated. However, I wonder if they’re ready yet to handle my current mode of my limited TV consumption (occasionally watching via Slingbox
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1 Mike The Actuary’s Musings » The Preferences of the Few Outweigh the Tastes of the Many // 9 Feb 2007 at 9:19 pm
[...] WSJ.com has as one of its free features, an article building upon news about Nielsen’s expansion of its people-metering to include students away at school. It includes this observation: But to calculate these estimates, Nielsen is extrapolating from the viewing habits of just 130 students around the country who have agreed to have electronic monitors installed in their dorm rooms. That means the decisions of a handful of those students can lead to a huge swing in ratings — that 163,000 jump for “Drawn Together” was based on 12 people in Nielsen’s survey group who tuned in to the show. [...]