no, you don't.

I don't know much about Nielson and rarely pay attention to any mention of the ratings. But I think one concern I've always had in the back of my mind is (to use the ice cream example) if there are 30 flavors, and you have 10 people sampled, how effective are the ratings going to be for the flavors not picked?

This is an obvious over exageration, but sometimes I wonder what demographic I live in when some obscure shows get canceled. I guess you can explain it as a marketing problem (not enough people in my demographic know about the show), or availability (broadcasted on some obscure cable channel, only available in zip codes with three even numbers).

Um... let me say up front: I am in no way calling anyone here a liar or refusing to believe what is posted.

That being said, it truly amazes me that out of the relatively small number of members here (that post) that there would be so many of you that had been part of the Nielsen television research.

The number of "Diaries" they send out number right around 100,000. The diaries are used only for local ratings. Meaning, the 210 markets around the country get their ratings based on the diaries.

The national ratings are based on 5,000 Nielsen boxes placed in 5,000 homes across the country. Again, the fact that out of approximately 110 million homes with televisions and only 5,000 with boxes, that one or more of those 5,000 happen to post here is amazing.

IMHO, having worked in the television industry for many years, the Nielsen ratings are a joke. A lot of people inside the business agree with this, but it's like the MPAA system - it's just there, and nobody has the energy to try and change it.

With all due respect to stat classes and the like, the only way for 5,000 boxes to accurately represent the entire nation would be if those 5,000 boxes were exactly, perfectly diversified across the country in regards to geography, economy, race, etc, etc, etc. Something that has never been proven because Nielsen has refused to ever show their cards.

It has longed been believed that the boxes in fact do not represent an equal diversification, but rather tend to skew toward the middle and south of the country geographically and the lower middle class, economically. This is why for years the so-called "smart" shows get cancelled while the Walker, Texas Rangers and the like go on and on. Please don't take that example out of context - I am only passing on things that have been discussed in our industry for years and years.

Because of this, demographics are what has become the center of attention for studios and advertisers. FOX has made millions without ever having really big hit shows - they have targeted a certain demo and gone after it. Same with the WB. They saw that no network was paying attention to the teen (and specifically teen girls) market - a very powerful buying sector and one Madison Ave loves - and so they went after it.

Again, everyone has an opinion and this is just mine. But I truly believe the system is grossly flawed. I would bet my house that if Nielsen simply doubled their number of boxes (putting them in areas where current ones are not) I bet the national ratings would change. And if they went to say, 20,000 boxes, still a tiny fraction of 110 million homes, the current ratings would change drastically.

hey, im new here. i've visited this forum for a while but now is when i actually decided to sign up.

anyway, i use to be a part of the nielson thing. i don't know how we got into it, but i think my dad won some contest or something. it started with some guy coming to our house, opening up all the tv's, installing wires and doing some other things to them, and connecting these little black boxes with six lights and buttons on top to turn a user on or off. basically, every time the tv was turned on, the lights started to blink and you would have to press your number (each person in the household got a designated number) and then press ok. if there was more than one person, 2 numbers would have to be inputed.

i think that we received $60 a year from neilson plus a small catalog with free gifts for each person in the family every six months. however, it was a pain in the butt to be putting your number in every time you turned on your tv.

to make a long story short, we had the neilson boxes for about 3 years and i am happy the guy came back and got ride of those "devil machines".

I don't see why that's so hard to believe. We're not saying we're all Nielsen participants *at this moment*, but simply that we have been at one point or another in the past. It's not like Nielsen picks a group of families and uses that same group forever and ever; they are constantly dropping families and enrolling new ones. (If I recall correctly, we only had to do the diary thing for about a month... possibly less.)

i agree.