PacMan2006

I am trying to find out how a few shows are doing in the ratings. I go to Zap2it.com because they lay out how all the shows did. But, it's hard for me to understand everything. They don't tell you how many millions of viewers watched...they state something like...

"A certain show came in third or fourt with a 2.8/5"

What does, for example, a 2.8/5 break down into for millions of viewers? I know it's probably small, but does anyone know? Does anyone even know what the 2.8 stands for, and what the 5 stands for?

Thanks.

BigDan

The first number is the rating, which is the percentage of the total number of television households that were tuned into a particular show. The second number is the share, which is the percentage of television households tuned to a specific program out of the total number of television households who were watching television during that time period (i.e. the television was "in use" at that time).

If you know how many television households there are, you can figure how many viewers based on the percentages. As far as I know, there are something like 105 million TV households, so a 2.8, for example, would be 2.8% of 105 million or 2.94 million.

chowderhead

MediaWeek Insider

Mediaweek's Marc Berman usually has a daily roundup of the Nielsen ratings from the night before. He usually has the breakdown of how many millions watched a show, etc. To make it more confusing, he uses the fast national (top market) ratings so the ratings are different then what zap2it uses.

PacMan2006

Thanks guys.