The Nielsen Ratings

Related terms:
See also:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Nielsen Ratings is an audience measurement system of television viewership that for years has been the deciding factor in canceling or renewing television shows by television networks.

The ratings began in the 1950–51 television season. They use statistics gathered by participating homes by way of a viewing diary during four "sweeps" months: February, May, July and November.

Networks then buy this information and use it to determine advertising prices and to decide which shows to renew.

Fans' complaints about the Nielsen ratings focus on what they perceive to be arbitrary participation and inaccurate and biased results.

There are also concerns that the Nielsen ratings system is rapidly becoming outdated due to new technology such as smartphones, DVRs, tablet computers and Internet streaming services as preferred or alternative methods for television viewing.

detail from Plak-Tow #4 (February 21, 1968) "It's 'A Private Little War' against the Nielsens — write NBC"

Gaming the System

From a fan in May 1968:

...keep on telling NBC what we think of that time slot. Let them know by letters, cards, wires, phone calls, phasers and/or demonstrations, that ST deserves to be scheduled where it will have a fighting chance in the Klingon Nielsen ratings.

[...]

You might try writing Paul Klein, NBC Audience Measurement. Jane Peyton did. Mr. Klein answered as follows—"Dear Miss Peyton... Do me one big favor; watch the show as often as you can, and when you can't watch it because you have a date, break the date and watch it anyway. We are counting on you more than you know." I'm not certain what "Audience Measurement" does, but perhaps we should let them know we are out here watching and that we're eager for them to get an accurate measurement. Several people have suggested that we might write Union Carbide, sponsor of 21st Century, suggesting that they consider sponsoring ST, It might be worth a try. And keep telling people about ST—sooner or later, even those Nielsen families may hear about it.

Case Study: Beauty and the Beast

Fans of Beauty and the Beast (TV) were heavily fixated on the Nielsen Ratings. For more, see Beauty and the Beast Fandom and The Nielsen Ratings.

In 1987, some fans hoped to influence the ratings by sending the Nielsen's their own research, certainly a futile effort. These particular fans were primarily Simon and Simon fans

Fan Alternatives

VOICE (1967)

Remember VOICE, the organization that was going to try to compete with Nielsen? It folded some months ago, but I have yet to hear of anyone who joined receiving a refund of their $2 membership fee. The VOICE address was Jack Ritter, VOICE [street address redacted] Seattle, Wash. 98134 Jack Ritter's address is Bt. 1, Box 840, Sumner, Wash. 98390. Shall we call the matter to his attention?

See more at VOICE.

ACTV's - Partners (1980)

This was an effort by Pat Massie with a Starsky & Hutch focuse. See ACTV's - Partners.

Viewers for Quality Television (1984)

See Viewers for Quality Television.

Fan Comments

1969

Hailing frequencies open —

NBC was the Doomsday Machine, Star Trek was Friday's Child

The writing's on the TV screen, the schedules have been filed.

The Ultimate Computer, Nielsen, helped bring this fate —

The Private Little War is lost, it's Operation: Annihilate

1971

The "enemy" is a trinity of bureaucracies devoted entirely to monetary augmentation and their status of aggrandizement in comparison to other profit-minded businesses. Star Trek fans are not alone in their contempt of this trinity.

The first of this trinity is the Nielsen Company, clearly the most despised of the three for the simple reason it is using an unworkable modus operandi. It is regrettable and unfortunate that they do not or can not perceive how mixed-up their system is! In comparison, their problem is like a "tribble", fortunately. If they continuously feed it, soon it will grow and multiply into fantastic proportions so that, in the end, they will finally; realize how inanely ineffective and inaccurate their methods actually are! As Star Trek fans we must speed up this process...

Another factor in Almighty A.C. Nielsen's favor and opposed to fandom is its limitless supply of brainwashed execs who have set them selves into a one-sided, single-minded state of mind where they actually think that their "ratings" system is, at most every angle, "infallible," And, even more unfortunate, the networks actually us the system and the sponsors place their trust, and confidence in them.

We how proceed to the second member of the trinity. This being the sponsors. Here we are faced with many obstacles. The first of these is that they aren't the least bit interested as to how high quality a series is. They are a purely $ and ¢-oriented business. They won't sponsor a series just be cause of its "high quality," These sponsors are guided purely by what the A.C. Nielsen (bleccchh!) Ratings Service dictates. And the odds against getting them to conform to some genuine ratings system are nearly astronomical (in other words, it's about as improbable as getting a Royal Fizzbin)! And to think! When even in truth, Star Trek may have remarkable ratings, the sponsors are still guided by Nielsen!

Finally we come to the third of the trinity: the networks. There are three major networks (where our hopes lie) and hundreds of Local stations throughout the U.S. All of them (as you well know) have executives who are stubborn, hard-nosed, and $ and ¢-minded (this does not, fortunately, include all exec's), But even with these types of adversaries, we do, however, have a chance. Because it is totally at the network's option as to what series it shall telecast (though they scarcely us this option). But still against fandom are tremendous odds. The networks have put themselves under the mercy of the sponsors. And if a show doesn't rate with Nielsen, it doesn't rate with the sponsors. And the sponsors are the major source of the network's monetary income and profit. So, if fandom is to move the networks into even considering, once again, "a series named STAR TREK," something effective (even threatening) must invade their currently content environment.

1981

Despite abysmal Nielsen ratings, the critically acclaimed series, [ Hill Street Blues ], continues to do battle with the tuna-brains of media-land. HSB's got class, guts, powerful scripts, masterful performances, and NBC promoting it, which all adds up, I'm afraid, to the proverbial kiss of death. The network has been dallying with this show for months in an apparent effort to figure out what to do with a show that just don't float at the same level as the rest of its byproducts.. .uh.. .productions. But perhaps with a new Tuesday time slot, and the promise from NBC Entertainment president, Brandon Tartikoff, that the network will hang or to HSB with the altruistic thought that the ratings may yet improve, there is yet HOPE. Before I climb off my soapbox, I'd like to ask those folks who enjoy the show to let good old Brandon know that you do — and that if you had one of those dumb little Nielsen boxes stuck to your set, you'd watch HSB no matter where those clever lads in programming stuck it. Write (polite letters, folks—typed if possible).

1990

I prefer to look at the world through alien goo-colored glasses and believe that we, as [ War of the Worlds ] fans, did have an impact, maybe not us personally, but those who are a part of the Nielsen's.

Early 2000s

(Note: God's television weighs heavily in the Nielsens, as God is more important than the average viewer.)

2006

... With the invention of DVR, online streaming, globalization of viewership, and social media paired with how unreliable Nielsen's tracking actually is the networks have been forced to measure a show's success in other ways. Yes, they will still look at overnight numbers but more often than not (specially for smaller networks who are primarily focused on the 18-24 demographic like ABC Family and The CW) social media presence is almost as important. You might get a show like The 100 that consistently gets a 0.5-0.6 in US ratings but trends on Twitter every week for hours with fans from around the world pitching in to the conversation and that matters to the network. If that same show is then watched two days later on DVR that matters. If people go on their website, or Hulu, and Netflix and streamings hundreds of thousands more times then that makes a massive difference. If the show constantly trends on Tumblr's fandometrics that shows they have an engaged fanbase. None of this was possible five or ten years ago and that's why shows like The 100 are still on the air. Because even though their Nielsen numbers may be dismal even for a small network, the people making decisions know their success goes beyond that because of fan engagement. [See more on this topic at LGBT Fans Deserve Better.]