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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Hey Nielsen

There has been a debate raging since Jericho was canceled by CBS. That debate involves the Nielsen ratings and how those ratings affected the cancellation of Jericho as well as of other shows. Did the Nielsen ratings truly reflect all the viewers of Jericho? No, because so many fans used DVR or TiVo or watched online.

After Nina Tassler of CBS sent fans the renewal notice for Jericho the debate kicked into high gear. Here we were being told we had to increase Jericho's ratings by asking more people to watch it " live." People became angry and upset when it was pointed out that only Nielsen families who watched live would be counted. What's a Jericho Ranger to do? You can't go through the phone book and call Nielsen families because they aren't allowed to announce who they are.

For now, we are advertising everywhere in the hopes of Nielsen families seeing our efforts. Brochures, flyers, car and yard signs, and more. Then, last night, there seemed to be a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. Nielsen has announced that, later this year, they will launch a website called Hey Nielsen. This will allow people- any people- to go to their website and leave feedback for favorite TV shows, movies, and more. There are two ststements that jumped out at me.

1) Concerning feedback Nielsen says they " may share it with the companies responsible for those entertainment products." Why do it if you aren't going to share it?

2) Nielsen states that users who leave " rich, insightful, and frequent feedback" may be invited to participate in surveys and/or interviews for TV, movies, and commercials.

Hopefully, this will be a way for us all to communicate how large a fanbase is really out there for a particular show or movie. And, maybe, advertisers will see what they're missing out on by not counting all viewers.

Wouldn't you love to leave your feedback? Come on, Nielsen, we need this in place before Jericho returns in the Fall.

5 comments:

Rich said...

It seems you are the only one miffed by Nielsen...

One of clients called today and said they were tossing the rating books out the window because they don't mean anything anymore. That's bad news when even the advertising agencies would rather get their information direct from local affiliates and independant research (eg. they already know what their client's costumers watch because they asked).

Solid post. You helped set some of my direction for Saturday. :)

Sweet Tea said...

Thanks, Rich. I'm thrilled that you left me a comment.
Maybe what is needed is exactly what your client did-find out for themselves what & where people are watching & throw Nielsen out the window.
Can't wait until Sat.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I would love to leave my feedback! It is soooo frustrating to me that I can turn every TV in my house to Jericho and still not be counted. I also plan to email CBS with a list of advertisers after every show, and then email the advertisers themselves. I need season 3,4,5,6,etc.

Anonymous said...

I've watched Jericho since the first show and am even watching the repeat shows to the buildup of the new season. Who's to tell ME that I don't count? I was boycotting CBS after news of the cancellation. A good show after a very long time of lousy ones and it gets cancelled? I say "NUTS!".

Sweet Tea said...

The Nielsen's are so much a part of why TV shows get cancelled. We should all band together and let the networks see we aren't going to take it anymore.
Thanks for your comment.