Television on Television: Why the Rating System Needs to Change

A week ago on Google+ and in a few in-class group discussions, several class members were talking about television ratings.  Shelby Boyer mentioned that "smart" shows like Community and 30 Rock never seem to get the ratings they deserve, while shows that get a cheap laugh like The Office do well.  She said, "I think TV has become a sort of go-with-the-crowd thing. There's kind of an emptiness and it is dangerous: if we don't stop to ask what we're laughing at, then we're letting TV writers dictate our morality/intelligence/whatever while the TV writers are just churning out scripts with baseless humor because even they don't have to think about it anymore."

While it may be true that Americans prefer to laugh at the quick jokes, and thus the cheap-shot shows do well in the ratings, I would like to propose one other reason why certain quality shows struggle.  The answer is in how shows are rated, how they are watched, and who watches.

 First, you have to understand how television shows are rated.  Nielsen Media Research is the authority in TV ratings.  The company selects a sampling of about 5,000 homes and installs a meter that tracks when televisions are on, and what channel is being watched.  Also, household members can press a button coded for each person on a small box near the TV to let the meter know who is watching and when they stop watching.  Thus, the company can also tell what ages are interested in which shows.  These ratings are important because companies want their ads to be seen, and if a show isn't watched enough, these companies won't pay to have their ads put on television during the commercial breaks in that show.  Therefore, the television network loses money, and decide to get a new show that will bring in more viewers, and thus more revenue from advertising companies.

How do you watch TV?

The problem here is that television isn't just watched on television anymore.  In a report by the NPD Group, it was shown that across the globe, more and more people are watching television using tablet devices.  Only 30% of consumers say they only watch TV on their television.  Another report in the Wall Street Journal noted 62.4 million viewers watch internet videos during primetime. 

And who is watching television on the computer or mobile device?  12-24 year-olds.  Older, married people who are financially stable, and who have more time for sitting down to watch hours of TV instead of short videos, are the ones who watch television on television sets.

Now, that's not across the board, but my point is this: many great shows struggle because of who is watching them and how.  Nielsen doesn't get ratings for shows that are being watched on tablets or on the internet by 12-24 year-olds. Thus, only the shows that the older people are watching on their television sets are doing well in the ratings.  If they prefer the cheap-shot shows Shelby Boyer mentioned, those of us watching Community on our computers have to bow to their discretion when it comes to who gets canceled.

This is not yet proven, but this is my theory.  And it brings up another point; in our digital culture, we have to adjust what has always been in order to accommodate those who are more digitally civilized than others, while still pleasing the masses.  Nielsen Media Ratings are one of many old, leftover traditions that need to be changed or perhaps even discarded completely in the digital world.  Otherwise, only those still subscribing to the old way of doing things benefit from it.

For more information:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question433.htm

http://www.cultofmac.com/176135/almost-twice-as-many-people-watch-tv-on-ipads-worldwide/

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-06-09/entertainment/30023006_1_internet-video-online-video-hulu

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/how-teens-watch-the-future-of-media-is-in-their-hands/