2007-01-30 15:44:36 · 5 answers · asked by auntfran8 3 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Television
When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention "ratings" they are generally referring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by Nielsen Media Research to determine the audience size and composition of television programming. Nielsen Ratings are offered in over forty countries.
Other television audience measurement systems are available from other companies, as well as systems developed in joint ventures with Nielsen Media Research, such as AGB Nielsen Media Research. Arbitron has a ratings system for measuring the audience size and composition of radio programming.
2007-01-30 15:52:34 · answer #1 · answered by dragonfly 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nielsen ratings are gathered from households that volunteer or are asked to track their TV viewing.
The purpose is/was so that networks could use the generated data to sell advertising at higher or lower rates depending on how many people would be watching a particular show.
2007-01-30 15:53:30 · answer #2 · answered by gabster_65 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's based on what the "Nielsen Families" watch. If you are selected as a Nielsen family, your TV is hooked up to a monitoring box, so they can collect when your tv is on, and what you watch. They try to select a pool of tv watchers to be as diverse as the general public.
It's not much different than political polls in terms of accuracy.
It's purpose is to give tv shows feedback on who and how many are watching them. And they base desicions on what shows to keeps, and which to boot, and how much to charge advertiers (based on # viewing).
2007-01-30 15:56:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a system of rating viewership of television shows, by using a sampling of the television audience to determine market share.
Its purpose is largely to determine the value of advertising on particular stations and programs, and advertising rates are set on the basis of these ratings.
The rating is done by Nielson Media Research. In radio we largely depend on a similar rating system called Arbitron for rating listenership on radio stations in a given market. Viewership determines the market value of a particular broadcasting or telecasting package.
2007-01-30 15:57:24 · answer #4 · answered by Warren D 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the purpose of the neilsons are to show how many people and what type of people are watching a show.
these numbers are used to charge advertisers. (more people who watch - the more expensive.)
it also allows targeting of shows.
2007-01-30 15:55:31 · answer #5 · answered by joe f 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋