TV RATINGS AND WHAT THEY MEAN

[November 17]

TV Ratings and What They Mean - Central Casting

How do networks decide what shows to keep and what to cancel? Here's what you need to know about TV ratings and how they're used.

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TV Ratings and What They Mean
SEPTEMBER 23, 2019
People on couch watching TV ratings network winner This is Us.
It’s premiere week, which means the 2019 fall TV season is here and our favorite network shows are finally back from summer hiatus. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the five broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and The CW) will debut more than 15 new shows. So how do the networks measure the success of their new shows over their established series? Here’s what you need to know about TV ratings and the other metrics that determine a show’s fate.

Network TV, premium cable, and streaming
Before we jump into TV ratings, it’s important to know the different ways channels make money. While all these services gain revenue through various means, the main difference is that broadcast networks and cable (TNT, AMC, USA, etc.) profit by selling advertising space during programming while premium cable and streamers rely on subscriptions. All channels use viewer analytics to decide if a TV show is profitable and worth keeping on their schedules, but how the data is gathered and parsed depends on the platform.

While networks air content year-round, they still follow the traditional TV season of September-May. Premium cable and streaming platforms constantly debut new content throughout the year. The New York Times estimates that at least 70 new programs will debut this fall across all content providers, including series from Apple TV+ and Disney+.

How do TV ratings work?
Network and cable TV ratings have been gathered by Nielsen Media Research since 1950. There’s a lot that goes in to measuring ratings, but basically, Nielsen chooses a random sample of diverse American households and installs meters to keep track of what’s being watched. They also monitor how long you watch, how many people are watching, and the device used. All of this information is compiled overnight and sent out to networks.

An important thing to know about Nielson ratings is that they are based on statistical sampling and are not a comprehensive measure of every person watching TV in America. According to Nielson, there are 120.6 million TV households in the United States, but only around 46,000 are sampled. The numbers reported are estimates of the 120.6 households based on the viewing habits of the sample population.

These TV ratings help calculate how much a network can charge advertisers for airtime during specific programs. One of the most important pieces of data used to determine ad pricing is the adults 18-49 rating share.

Adults ages 18-49 are known as the key demographic because advertisers believe they have the most disposable income and least brand loyalty, which may make them more susceptible to advertising.
Rating is the percentage of total TV households tuned into a program at a given time. So if a show has a 1.0 rating, it means that 1% of those 120.6 million households watched that program. This number is always out of the total estimated TV households and does not factor how many of those total households actually had their TVs on.
Share is the percentage of households that watched a program out of all the households that were actively watching TV at a specific time.
Let’s break this down. Variety reported that the highest rated network series of the 2018-2019 season was This Is Us with an average 3.8/16 rating share in the key 18-49 demo. That means that 3.8% of all TV households watched This Is Us on a given night and 16% of all people actively watching TV during that timeslot.

So what is considered a good rating? It’s all relative. How “good” a show’s ratings are can depend on many things, like how many households the channel is offered in, the demographic of the channel’s audience, and how high a program’s ratings are in comparison to other shows in the same timeslot. Low ratings don’t always mean cancellation as that program may also be profitable through streaming deals, syndication, international ratings, and social media influence. All of this is taken into account when networks decide their upcoming schedules during Upfronts each May.

Want to know more about how the TV industry works? Learn more about the three stages of production and the crew members you should know on set.

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[November 17]

How do Networks Know How Many People are Watching a TV Program?
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Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen


Last Modified Date: November 02, 2022
Although different regions can use various methods, the traditional way to monitor television viewing habits has been a rating system. In many countries, including the US, the Nielsen Company uses in-house devices that track the viewing habits of thousands of people. These numbers represent what average people of a certain age and gender watch, which then indicates the number of viewers who probably watch a particular show. Networks use this information to gauge how popular certain shows are, which determines how much they charge companies to advertise during those programs.

The television viewing habits of a sample of households are tracked to estimate total viewers of network programs.
The television viewing habits of a sample of households are tracked to estimate total viewers of network programs.
The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company tracks what shows viewers watch on television networks through a representative sampling of about 25,000 households that let the company record what programs they watch. This is a fairly small sampling, considering US households with televisions for the 2010-2011 viewing season was estimated at almost 116 million, but they choose people based on their ability to represent varied populations. For example, Nielsen might choose a household with adults and children of multiple genders and age groups to better represent more viewers.


Nielsen Company uses in-home devices to track the viewing habits of thousands of people daily.
Nielsen Company uses in-home devices to track the viewing habits of thousands of people daily.
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How the Information Is Gathered

Every time someone in a Nielsen household turns on a television, he or she indicates which person it is and the box tracks how long the person watches a show. Each member of a household has his or her viewing habits recorded individually, through indicating who is watching the television at any given time. If multiple people, including guests, view a program, each one enters information about his or her age and gender into the box so that the viewing habits of each person can be tracked. This viewer-specific data sets the information Nielsen records apart from data gathered by a regular cable television box.

Researcher Nielsen turns samples of viewers into a percentage representing total TV viewership.
Researcher Nielsen turns samples of viewers into a percentage representing total TV viewership.
Sampling
Nielsen turns this sample of viewers into a percentage representing total viewership. If 2,500 people in Nielsen households watch Example News Show in a week, for example, then they conclude that 10% of television viewers in all households watched the show. This would indicate a rating of 10 points, and networks rank their shows based on the number of viewers they have each week.

The Nielsen box tracks viewing habits by age and gender.
The Nielsen box tracks viewing habits by age and gender.
Demographics and Commercial Ratings
More important than just the ratings of a show are certain demographics and "commercial ratings" for a program. Since the Nielsen box tracks viewing habits by age and gender, companies can specifically target certain groups, such as people between the ages of 18-49. This age range tends to buy more products than other ages, so it has become the most important demographic to many advertisers. Networks can charge more money to advertisers placing commercials in a show with high numbers of viewers in this demographic, even if the show's overall ratings are lower than another program more popular among older or younger audiences.

The Nielsen Company has also established a secondary rating called "commercial rating," which is based on viewing habits of commercials. Ratings have value to networks because they use these numbers to sell time to advertisers. Commercial ratings indicate whether people are actually watching commercials, or simply skipping them through recorded programs or channel-changing. Many advertisers care more about commercial ratings than general ratings or market shares, since viewers who skip their commercials are not as valuable to them as those who watch the ads.

Sweeps Months
Many TV viewers have heard the term "sweeps" related to ratings. During the months of November, February, May, and July, Nielsen sends viewing diaries to millions of households. People keep a manual record of what shows they watch and then send this information back to the company. Networks often run especially exciting programming to attract more viewers during these months, which boosts their numbers in the collected diaries.

Time-Shifted Viewing and Internet Television
One major issue that has arisen for ratings systems is the increased popularity of Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) that let people record shows and watch them later, called "time-shifted viewing." The Nielsen ratings do take these viewers into consideration, but they cannot track exactly what shows are watched at what time, only that viewers recorded them and likely watched them within about three days. Since many people skip commercials during playback on DVRs, many advertisers do not care much about these numbers.

The increased availability of shows on the Internet has offered new possibilities for tracking viewing habits. Television networks can easily see how many people pay for and download a show through various websites, and many of them offer shows for free with limited advertising. The number of downloads can be recorded by television networks and might influence decisions about keeping certain programs airing. Many advertisers do not consider such viewing as valuable as regular TV watching, however, which has made Internet streams for shows less financially important than traditional broadcasting.

During sweeps months, Nielsen viewers keep manual records of what shows they watch.
During sweeps months, Nielsen viewers keep manual records of what shows they watch.


Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent EasyTechJunkie contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.