does anybody know how tv channels find out how many people had tuned into viewing their shows? for example, on the friday after american idol (back when it was on) it said around 30 million people tuned in, now thats too fast of results for things like the nielson ratings and surveys, so how do they find out?
2006-10-01 14:21:25 · 4 answers · asked by Julie 3 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Television
Well there's the "fast nielsen ratings" which measure ratings within hours ...they use electronic boxes which measure the vieweing patterns of viewers from a set of viewers (and then extrapolated across the population). These boxes are located in all major cities across America. The final ratings are then released a few days later which take all viewers into account---that's why you'll see slight adjustments in final ratings compared to the fast nationals, but often not much.
2006-10-01 14:30:52 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nowadays, many people who are tracked by the rating companies actually have computers in their homes which immediately report what is being watched, and that is what they use to provide immediate results. Note that obviously, they didn't track 30 millions viewers, but rather counted the ones they do track and extrapolated those numbers to the total number of viewers. These numbers are not totally accurate but they seem to be good enough for the TV content providers.
2006-10-01 21:30:55 · answer #2 · answered by spongeworthy_us 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They do surveys and extrapolate the results over the entire population. Plus in the case of American Idol they are talking about votes coming into their switchboard and on line.
2006-10-01 21:28:46 · answer #3 · answered by LORD Z 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
actuall Nielson results are that fast... the other way is the voteing
2006-10-01 21:29:34 · answer #4 · answered by xjoizey 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋