Ratings

It's all about advertisement dollars.

Great post! I have a few thoughts.

I run a business, so I guess I have some sympathy for the people who are financing the production. However they might feel about the artistry on display, they, like all of us, have the concern about their business staying in the black.

That said, from what I've read about the issue of ratings, there seems to be some cause for concern about the way the data is collected. My understanding is that there has been a lag in the process, in that the long-relied-upon Nielsen system has become increasingly unreliable in an age in which much content isn't viewed at the time of broadcast, but saved on DVRs, watched On Demand, or binged on disc or other formats. I'm not a savvy to know how methodology might have been adapted to make ratings more accurate.

Even in the era before technology's advances skewed the results, there were issues of shows destined to be huge hits later nearly being euthanized by weak ratings. The low ratings could become a death spiral, with the public avoiding a show because it seemed few others thought it was any good.

Sometimes this was due to poor lead-ins from inferior or played-out shows, or because of being scheduled opposite some ratings Godzilla on another network. I remember feeling disappointed when some show I thought was great was dumped simply because it couldn't dislodge some huge hit it was up against. Sometimes, a scheduling change saved a fledgling hit.

It's the eternal seesaw between Art and Commerce. I think there is some ray of hope in services like Netflix and (ugh) Amazon producing content which might not appeal to networks or cable providers. It would be great if this trend toward niche programming flourishes in ways we might not yet be aware of.

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The main reason that the television ratings are in issue for me is that the 18 to 49 demographic is getting so much power and the fact that overall viewers are not really considered as well as they should be I mean you have shows it too well with overall viewing but not as great with 18-49 are hammered for it

There certainly are a lot of variables when it comes to ratings, how they're gathered, and how networks decide which shows will survive and which won't. I never could figure out why a good, new show is scheduled against an established hit. The new one likely won't knock off the hit show, so why do it? It seems to me to be a waste of time, money, and talent, especially with producers scrambling to find good ideas these days. Networks have no patience these days; gotta win right out of the gate or you're history. Sheesh. There has to be a better way.

Interesting coincidence considering I got an advance notice yesterday in the mail that I had been chosen to participate in a Nielsen rating survey. I'm supposed to be on the alert for a certain follow up packet.

I don't plan to participate unless there's some worthwhile incentive involved.