2006-06-12 11:01:43 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Entertainment & Music ➔ Television
The TV research companies select a determined amount of homes, and then ask those families if they are interested in participating in a study Those interested then agree to the installation to their TVs or cable boxes of a device called a "meter". The meter then keeps track of every program viewed based on channel and time of day and the amount of time that that particular channel was tuned. It is very, very accurate. However, the downside of the meter is it can register which channel is tuned, but is in no way able to know how many people are watching, and their gender and age. Also, it is not able to tell when the TV is just on and no one is in that room watching it (like my kids do).
Before the meter, there was a very simple system called the "diary". The families that agreed to participate were given a booklet with its pages divided in days and hour frames. In it the families manually entered the channel and program watched, how long they watched it and how many people watched it. Although it sounds more thorough than the meter, it really wasn't because some people could forget to fill out the diary the moment they watched TV, and then just before returning it, they would fill it all out of memory.
Hope I was of help, my friend.
2006-06-12 11:20:18 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
The go through a company called Neilson. Neilson Ratings uses random selection to choose households for their surveys. They put a small device on the back of each electronic piece of equipment in your home (TVs, VCRs, DVDs) and record all of the programs that you watch. They track all of the demographics of your house - age and number of inhabitants, income, education, etc. to put you into categories. Then they use this data to extrapolate the TV patterns of the entire population of the US, and this is how shows are rated.
2006-06-12 18:06:52 · answer #2 · answered by KB 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Through a company called Nielsen Television Ratings. My sister works for that company. They have people who come and put these boxes in your house to monitor your television viewing habits. If your household is selected you represent a population of people not just yourself in one area.
2006-06-12 18:05:16 · answer #3 · answered by luvhurts004 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We covered this in College; sociology. Anyhows, they have organisations that basically ask us. Apart from that, if there's something like a world series sporting event and the national grid [electric] goes way up during a break then they reckon that's evidence that everyone is having a break and having a cup of tea. those are the only ways they can do it. One more, they can get a machine connected to our TVs and it will tell them what we watch.
2006-06-12 18:12:49 · answer #4 · answered by smile4763 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Cable companies pay families to install what are called "Nielsen" tracking system to their television sets so they can monitor what they are watching at what times. They then relay that information to the Networks.
2006-06-12 18:05:25 · answer #5 · answered by Zack K 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Neilsen families. When I was in high school we got a form to fill out for a week of tv viewing.
2006-06-12 18:05:06 · answer #6 · answered by carole 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They give away Neilson boxes to people they think are average and then they vote. My landlord had one, he is not average in most senses.
2006-06-12 18:05:49 · answer #7 · answered by kurticus1024 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋